


Thrones of the Four Pillars

by Thaeonblade



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Childhood Friends, Cross-Generational Friendship, Dark, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family Fluff, Friendship/Love, Gen, Multi, Nightmares, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-10
Updated: 2013-09-10
Packaged: 2017-12-26 05:42:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 43,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/962282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thaeonblade/pseuds/Thaeonblade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>10-9/2-1. </p><p>Sora knew that the end of one journey would be the beginning of another. But what if this next adventure asks more of the young hero than he could give? Thankfully, he, Riku and Kairi will not stand alone.</p><p>Starts one year after KH2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_**Reseach Center Foyer, Hollow Bastion** _

A young boy leaned upon the railing as he overlooked the city adjacent to the fortress he now stood upon. Radiant Garden truly was a beautiful place, but not so beautiful as to make the boy forget of his parent's loss a few years ago. All he remembered were the nights of loneliness and starvation, how every day was a gift and that to fall to the illusion of happiness was to invite tragedy.

Ansem the Wise found him and took him in as a son. Perhaps it was an act of genuine kindness or the old man's fertility was inert to where any drifting child would have satisfied his need for an heir to his estate. Still, of everyone he'd encountered, the wise sage was among the only few whom the boy could say he loved. He hated the illusion, but Ansem was like a father to him and he cared for the man as a son.

Ever since Xehanort came however, everything had changed for the worst. He had strange powers, powers identical to the blond haired boy who had saved him from the blue creatures a year ago. But Xehanort was much more sinister and cruel with his abilities, he had witnessed the man do terrible things with those powers. The boy was not blameless either, he had the power to do something but did nothing for he had fallen under an illusion of promise. A promise soon broken, Ansem was now missing and Xehanort had likely taken on his name and identity long before this point.

The air carried an awful smell.

The city itself did not stink, but the creatures that lied beneath it. Soon it would be time for the final stages of the plan to unfold and this city, his home would be sacrificed to achieve those stages. Soon he would be reborn or so their ringleader stated. Recent events had caused the boy to question the trustworthiness of the man named Xehanort.

"Ienzo!" The boy turned to the source of the annoyance and found his former caretaker. Evan was panting like he'd run a marathon, but Ienzo knew that it was because of his poor atheletic ability. "Where is he?"

"How should I know?" Ienzo retorted, having no intention of trying to prob where their ringleader now was, "His plans are his own now."

"Don't get smart with me child! The heartless are getting more out of control!" Evan cried as he held Ienzo's shoulders. He then released the young boy and started pacing back and forth in front of the child, "Just like him to vanish before everything gets out of hand." Ienzo rolled his eyes and happened to catch an eavesdropper above them. He signed and concentrated to create a projection of an older version of himself next to the eavesdropper to make him aware that his cover was blown.

"He's in the Usual Spot." Braig stated before jumping down and landing gracefully behind Ienzo. "Decided to double check something about the plan." Judging from Evan's panic, this was not comforting to the academic.

"Of all the times to go there!" Evan shouted but hung his shoulders in defeat, "And you'd think he'd bother to inform us of the heartless' condition?"

"As if! Let's just get to the pods." Braig suggested, gently ushering his colleagues towards the doorway leading to the escalator, "Aeleaus and Dilan are getting a wee bit impatient."

"Affirmative." Ienzo agreed before turning for the escalator. Evan followed behind with Braig keeping closely behind.

"No tricks now Braig." Evan nervously warned before turning and walking down the escalator to the lower levels of the facility. Ienzo stopped and gazed at his one-eyed senior. Ienzo knew the man to be a keen trickster and someone never to be truly trusted. In fact, ever since the wielders of the keyblade came to their Garden a year ago, Braig seemed to act more and more underhandly.

Still, it was too late to turn back now. So Ienzo reluctantly turned back and started down the escalator, but not before he heard his colleague hauntingly laugh and mutter to himself.

"Just as planned." Ienzo heard Braig muse, all but confirming his suspicions, "Right Mister Master?" Who was this Mister Master? Whatever awaited within the chamber of rebirth, Ienzo would get to the bottom of it and find out what happened to Ansem the Wise.

All the while, the smell of Darkness stank the air.

* * *

_**Hollow Bastion Basement, Section 101** _

Neither breath exhaled nor sound echoed from the chamber in which the scientist sat. He sat unmoving upon a colorless throne surrounded by walls adorned with the upside down symbols from a memory distant yet close. His lips moved as though to speak but if any were there they would hear no voice nor whether or not the armor before him ever answered.

After a time, the man opened his eyes and stared down the armor lying in it's heap. He knew had seen it before, he vaguely remembered fighting along side a comrade who wore this armor and fought with the keyblade lying next to it. But attempting to pry further into his subconscious would only now waste time. He would likely return to this room in one form or another, but now, his plans had to be set into motion.

"Thank you once more..." The Seeker said to the armor, a hint of genuine gratitude within his voice which often incited chills, "But I must go for now...perhaps when I return we may speak more...my friend." He stood from his throne and motioned his hand towards the door to the chamber. At his command, it opened and he walked forth, knowing that the next time he saw this place it would be through eyes foreign to the ones he now held.

He walked through the corridors of his creation. Section 101 was rendered as an area which even their master had dared not investigate. Here great monstrosities of darkness formed from the fallen hearts of Radiant Garden's worst criminals were kept here to keep from destroying and consuming the smaller weaker heartless in the other sections. Already he could feel their hunger for his own heart and would likely try and take it without hesitation.

Fortunately, not only did the scientist have the power to keep them at bay, but even if they could break through their bars, they would never be able to escape the corridors of this area. They would have to break the very fabric of time and space and open a corridor which would certainly increase the amount of darkness in this world.

Making it all the easier to fall.

* * *

**Lady within the Shadow**

How long had it been since she was saved from the two large creatures of darkness? She had no way of knowing. All Aqua knew as that she still lived and traveled along a long rocky path in this dark depth of despair known as the domain of darkness. She remembered calling out, hoping that someone else was in this place but stopped. If those giants from earlier were a clue, then sinister forces roamed this realm. For now however, her blue, star-shaped wayfinder gleamed brightly against the darkness.

"As long as we remain connected, I'm sure that I'll return home to you." She stated to herself as she held the wayfinder in her hand. It reminded her of better times, when she and her fellow apprentices used to encourage each other's dreams and were always at each other's side.

As she walked, unease suddenly grew within her and she started looking left and right. She couldn't see any of creature of darkness, but she still felt uneasy. She still remembered when a humanoid muscular creature of darkness with a pair long antenna had pinned her down and clawed down her neck before she destroyed it. The wound had healed but she remained weary of any surprise attackers. Worst of all, she was alone.

Her wayfinder started to glimmer off and on as the whole realm seemed to shake. She looked up to the pitch black ceiling of this world and saw a bright circle open within it. The light gleamed down into the world, as if to herald the coming of a Light master who would save those trapped within.

Whatever hope this may have given Aqua was soon silenced by the torrentous pillar of darkness that fired into the portal and dimmed out that light. As the shaking grew less and less, Aqua watched her wayfinder as the light weakened and eventualy faded out entirely.

"What is happening?" Aqua's gaze lingered on her dimmed wayfinder as the pillar of darkness faded out and the shaking ceased. She watched as two dark portals appeared on the ground on either side of him and summoned her keyblade when she sensed the hunger that eminated from them. From either portal leapt dark humanoid creatures which she avoided with a backflip and destroyed with one slash. She cartwheeled to avoid the claws of dozens of smaller creatures that had snuck out of the portals.

She warped to narrowly avoid the slash of a stealth creature and appeared behind the creature to cast a Firaga that burned through the creature and took out one of it's partners. She warped into the fray and continued to slash and vanish away to destroy these creatures. They were swift, but the most they could manage was destroying the afterimages that her warping created. She stopped to see that only two of the more muscular creatures remained and threw her keyblade to destroy the two.

Before she caught it, she was tackled from her feet by a smaller heartless that painfully clawed into her lower back without hesitation. She shuddered and wimpered from each desperate strike the small creature gave as she searched for her master's keyblade. Seeing no other choice, she flipped up and threw the heartless onto the ground with a desperate pull and fired a shot of lightning from her hands that left a small crater in the ground after she landed. Now freed from panic, she cast a healing spell on herself and felt the pain ease and dissipate as she summoned her keyblade.

"What were...those creatures?" Aqua had sensed the negative dread that the creature's aura had produced but they were far more menacing and hungry then the unversed. "Darkness...they were made from the darkness." Her eyes widened as her own realization shook the very foundations of her core. She looked up and saw only darkness. Down and on the side of the path she tread was darkness. Even the soil she tread was very dark, the only light that could be gleaned in this place could only found in the small patchs of crystal glass found on the various formations in this realm. Whatever these creatures were...they could attack her from anywhere at anytime.

This was their home afterall.

A part of her immediately regretted giving up her armor...if she and Terra had stayed together they might have fought off the darkness that had taken him...the darkness that was Xehanort's heart. Instead...she separated them and she had no way of knowing if Terra would be able to stay strong or succumb...

There was only way to know for certain.

Thus did Master Aqua steel her resolve and continue her tread through this dark realm. True...she was outmatched by the predators that she could even know sense watch her. But had no other choice, it was either fight or die, stand up and be strong or fall to oblivion and fade.

* * *

**Outcast in Despair**

Even now, he still heard them. These dark depths had yet to deteriorate his memory of the Garden he once lived in. The friends he held dear, the family he loved and vowed to protect, everything he had worked for that had been taken from him. He had fought, but fate was on the side of the wicked and he failed. For his defiance, he was cast into this place of darkness with only a single sentence.

 _"Should you stand within the darkness, then you shall prove worthy to avenge yourself,"_  The boy remembered the words of his mentor-turned tormentor like a bad rash,  _"Fall and you shall prove yourself as nothing more than a waste of time."_  Those were the last words that he ever heard before he was cast into this place. The foremost apprentice of Ansem didn't even have the decency to heal him first. However, these depths were quiet enough to catch one's breath without being interrupted.

Suddenly all around him shook, he looked up and saw the cause. A torrential pillar of darkness was striking a portal of light, the boy shuddered when he realized just what had happened. The apprentices of Ansem had beaconed the darkness of this world into the Realm of Light. He had trouble breathing when he fully realized what this meant, the realms were separated into light and dark for a reason, once this invasion was begun then nothing would be the same.

He wiped the sweat from his brow and turned to continue on his path. That was when he saw something fall through the dark ceiling, an entire piece of a beautifully created castle landscape. He instantly recognized it and the other alike pieces that fell into these depths of darkness.

His home had fallen.

"No..." He fell to his knees, tears streaming from his eyes as he watched the pieces of his home fade into the dark horizon. The creatures of this dark realm appeared from the shadows around him as he looked upon the ruin that was once his home. Part of him just wanted the heartless to kill him...but this was an idle fantasy, a way to run away from his responsibility. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand and face the heartless. These were different from the one's his master had marked, these were the true heartless, creatures formed from the darkness of the worlds and those who lived in them.

Some he recognized while others he would be sure to make note of. The boy exhaled as summoned his changed but still familiar keyblade and barely managed to smirk as the advancing heartless stopped in their tracks. Apparently, his kind weren't too common in this place. But that didn't look like it would matter for long. They didn't care how he had gotten there, all these heartless knew was that he was an intruder in their realm. An intruder with a strong heart that would keep them feed for a long time. An intruder who would have to die.

Something he didn't plan to do.

The healthy human mind doesn't wake up thinking this is its last day alive. But it is a luxury instead of a curse. The boy felt that knowing he drew to the close was a kind of freedom, freedom to take time for inventory. Here he stood, on his last wind, outnumbered by the spawn of darkness and out of his mind for thinking he could outlast these creatures. These creatures, who'd likely lived in these depths and stained the soil with their mark probably knew the terrain inside and out more than he could ever hope to do in a decade, but they would remember him...for his stand. Because out of all his vast array of nightmares, this was the one that he would not attempt to wake from. As he charged forward, he felt as a breath exhaled from the winds of hope. He slashed through these creatures without a sound escaping his mouth, but vigor roared in his heart, empowered by the one goal that would keep him going:

He. Will. Kill him.

* * *

**Shores of Destiny**

"Dad! Riku!" Riku was dashing as fast as he could. He had heard his best friend call for him and he was going to answer, even if it meant ignoring his mom when he ran from the table at the island party. Of course, Sora's dad, who was basically Sora except taller with black hair and a pony tail, easily beat him to the scene. Riku wasn't too far behind though and managed to put together what had happened.

"Sora?" Riku looked from Sora's dad to the little girl that Sora was barely carrying in his arms. Riku looked into the evening sky and saw that stars were falling across the sky. He had never seen this red-haired girl before, could she have come from the stars?

"She's really tired..." Sora said pleadingly, "Can we help her?" Whatever question Riku had for his friend would have to wait. For now, his friend wanted to help this girl and he would be at his side.

"Of course Sora." Sora's dad told his son which made him smile reassured, "I'll find the mayor, stay with her until I get back." Riku watched as Sora's father ran off to find the other grown-ups and then turned back to Sora. He was calmer, but his younger friend still looked baffled on what to do with the girl in his arms. Rolling his eyes, Riku took one of the girl's arms and put on his shoulder to help Sora carry her. Not that he wasn't doing a bad job, but Sora was more of a runner instead of a carrier. Plus, little boys at their age can't really carry much.

Then Riku stopped and looked back to the shore.

"You take her to the cabin," Riku suggested to his friend. "I'm staying out for a bit."

"What for?" Sora asked, almost looking afraid to be left alone with the girl.

"The girl might have dropped something." Riku said, it was right off the top of his head but Sora accepted the explanation. In truth, Riku wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he felt something call to him on the shores of this boring island. He walked to where Sora most likely carried the girl from shore and gazed upon the fading tracks in the sand until he found it.

A keyblade.

Unlike the keyblade of the man who Riku had met a year ago, this keyblade was round and curvaceous to the point of appearing harmless. One side of the hilt was formed in the shape of a breaking ocean wave, while the other was formed into a beige vine of sand that wrapped around the shaft, which was colored to resemble a sunset. The vine running along the shaft connected to a bouquet of colorful flowers, which formed the teeth of the Keyblade. A red, sulken keychain connected the hilt to a token Riku thought resembled a paopu fruit.

Riku gripped the keyblade and found that like the other one, it was very light to pick up. Maybe it was because of the ceremony that the keyblade warrior put Riku through, he smiled at this thought. As he held the keyblade, he felt it resonate in the direction of the cabin and put two and two togther. This was her keyblade. How did the girl get one? Maybe she had gone through the same ceremony that he did, that meant that the keyblade order was real, which meant that the warrior was real...

Which meant there were other worlds out there.

As he looked upon the keyblade, a white light covered it and vanished, taking the keyblade along with it. Riku was both dissapointed and mesmerized by the display, but somehow felt that the keyblade would return when it was needed. He had been promised his own keyblade afterall and one day, he would return the girl's to her.

"Riku?" The silver haired boy turned to see that Sora was still kind of nervous. Of course he was, he didn't know how to handle girls and looked to his older friend for help.

"It's nothing..." Riku said, "You sure she came from the ocean?"

"Yeah!" Sora jumped up and down as he started talking about his brief conversation with the girl as if he had just met the queen of his life. Her name was Kairi and according to Sora, she had pretty blue eyes. Riku noted that a lot of people on the islands had blue eyes so he wasn't quite sure what Sora saw in them. Judging from the way Sora acted for the rest of the day until the Mayor and Sora's dad came to their cabin, Sora had fallen in love at first sight.

Just like in a fairy tale.

"Maybe he'll marry her." Riku thought with a smirk while Sora kept talking. Chances were, she'd end up living on the island anyway so that would give him and Sora another friend, Sora would get cuddies one day, and Riku would find answers.

Answers to take him beyond this ocean.

* * *

**_Ten Years later_ **

* * *

**_Hallow Bastion, Radiant Garden_ **

" _Well, that's what happens when you put your whole being into an attack. You know what I mean? Not that Nobodies actually HAVE beings... right? Anyway, I digress."_

_" _Think I'll pass. My heart just wouldn't be in it, you know? Haven't got one._ "_

_" _I wanted to see Roxas. He... was the only one I liked... He made me feel... like I had a heart. It's kind of... funny... You make me feel... the same..."__

_" _I want everybody I meet to remember me. Inside people's memories, I can live forever._ "_

__"Got it memorized? What's your name?_ "_

"It's..." His mouth moved, wordlessly muttering his name as the youth released that he was conscious, "Wait...did I just talk..." Having spoken again, the youth lifted his back off of the floor of the laboratory, amazed that he even had true strength. He looked around his surroundings, he recognized them immediately...

"I'm alive! Wasn't I..." The youth asked himself as he shakingly stood on his feet and looked up, raising a hand over his eyes due to being unused to the ceiling lights, "Only one way to know for sure..."

He read out the first joke that he could think of.

"Three guys, stranded on a desert island, find a magic lantern containing a genie, who grants them each one wish." The youth recounted to himself, "The first guy wishes he was off the island and back home. The second guy wishes the same. The third guy says-" He found himself unable to finish due to the laughter that bolted him back onto the floor.

The true, unrestrained laughter that sounded from his lungs.

"He says...'I'm lonely. I wish my friends were back here.'" The youth finished as he continued to laugh, his sound of joy echoed through the seal-off laboratory before he finally contained himself, "That's...that's actually...funny!" His laughter subsided as the true dawned upon him. He was real...

He was...reborn.

"I'm back...I'm really back..." The youth saw a window nearby and walked to it and saw his reflection. He saw an older version of himself look back, the only thing missing were the purple reverse-teardrop shaped markings that used to be under his eyes. "I'm...taller too and still got the good looks" Indeed, the youth chuckled at how much taller he was from the last time he was in this lab.

"I wonder..." The youth wondered as he held out his hands and focused. Two boleros of fire and flame circled around them and formed into the chakrams that he'd used in his past life, "Yep! Still got the fire baby!"

"Better keep it down...I'm probably not the only one in here-" The youth stopped when he sensed a presence that he hadn't fully felt since he'd died in this very room, "Damn it...I hate being right."

**xxxxx**

" _But darkness did cover the world once, in legend. We know so little about the Keyblade War—only that it was just the beginning. Amidst the crisis a precious light was found. It is a curious tale—and one worth exploring. They say ruin brings about creation. So what, then, would another Keyblade War bring? When the darkness falls, will we be found worthy of the precious light the legend speaks of? I must have these answers. The χ-blade needs to be forged, and with it, the door to the Keyblade War unlocked!_ "

" _This heart belongs again to darkness. All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it. It grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came._ "

" _I will guide you into the Depths of Darkness!_ "

" _The Keyblade is said to hold phenomenal power._ _One legend says its wielder saved the world, while another says that he wrought chaos and ruin upon it. I must know what this Keyblade is. A key opens doors. It must be connected to the door I have opened."_

" _Hear me, Kingdom Hearts! It seems we must begin anew. Ah, but know this: I will give to you as many hearts as it takes. Mark my words! You can no more be complete without me than I without you. Heed me, Kingdom Hearts! Lend me your power, so that we may be complete! The power to erase the fools that hinder us._ "

 _"Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness... _Supreme darkness...__ "

" _That fool Ansem said the heart's true nature was beyond his understanding. But it's not beyond mine! Hearts are the source of all power!_ "

" _Darkness conquers all worlds!_ "

"How long has it been since I walked these halls?" The Traveler mused as he walked the halls of a now forsaken citidel. Despite it's restoration, most inhabitants still felt unsure about revisiting the halls of the once-revered Sage whom held vigil over them. Many stories persisted of his actions and how they had brought about their Garden's destruction once before.

Then again, the truth about the man's actions were not entirely known to most. Nobody knew that one of Ansem's own apprentices had taken his name to hide his own activities. Nobody knew that the apprentice then lead a coup and overthrew Ansem before casting him into nothingness. No one knew that the apprentice cast the world into darkness to satisfy his urge to seek that which lied in darkness.

Even now, no one knew that the very same apprentice had returned. He awoke upon a bench near the fountains with two nightmares occuring in each eye. In his left, he was floating amidst a great abyss of darkness crying for the door to the Heart of Hearts to appear. The doors opened, but the light shrouded his vision and burned his being. In the other, two mere children held a blade of keys and fired a white light through his body and then leapt up to cleave through him.

Now he stood before the doors of what he remembered to be the medical ward. He looked inside to see that it had not been used for quite sometime, not since he and his fellow researchers had been there. Still, he found no need to stay there and continued searching the citidel. Occasionally he would spot a member of the Restoration Committee but he was well enough versed in the citidel's layout and confident in his own abilities of stealth to avoid all he came upon.

As he neared the area where he had first spawned his army of darkness, he stopped when he realized an annoying fact. A fact that made him open a corridor of darkness which he stepped through to emerge into the lower chambers of his creation. When the corridor dispersed, he looked upon the great stairs that spiralled down from the closed hidden door. He could never quite remember why he had made the stairs so vast and long, but mistakes of the past were best left there.

He walked along until he found a familiar door, one marked with the symbol of the Nobodies who he led in a past life. He placed his hand upon the symbol and watched as the door slowly slid open. He walked in and gave not a glance to the broken empty cells. He stopped and glanced to his left at a door ordained with the nobody symbol and had an urge to enter.

But he stopped, that which lied in that chamber was of no use to him now. It was not his friend, but the friend of he who once held this body. A fool whom he had manipulated into wading to far and deeply into darkness, as penalty, he likely lies within a mere shell of his former self formed of regret and hate. In any case, he no longer felt the fool hinder his actions. The Seeker was free to seek for that which he had sought for all of his lives.

Kingdom Hearts.

He kept walking, not stopping until he had come to the door which he sought. Like the other door, it too was ordained with a nobody symbol. But beneath it was another symbol which took some time for him to remember. It was the emblem of a chalice, filled with a great flame that emitted rays of light that cut through the outer circle of darkness. He knew this to be the marking of fellows he had called comrades long ago in the travels of the master who sought for what lied beyond the war he attempted to begin.

He placed his hand upon the calice and watched as thirteen blank squares appeared around the nobody symbol in a circle. Knowing what do to, he focused upon the memories within his mind and watched as each panel filled with the original names of they who had served him.

Braig. The trickster sharpshooter with whom he had schemed since before taking his body. He knew little of what the man hoped to gain, but made little note of it...so long as his accomplice remembered whom he was partnered with.

Dilan. A furocious man of wind and inception, he could rely upon the Lancer of whirlwinds and maelstroms to keep others in line. Sadly, he fell while carrying out a pet-project that would have succeeded if not for the meddling of a certain boy.

Even. This academic alchemist always intrigued him. Curiosity always seemed to be the primary motivation for his involvement but his fear clouded his brilliance. Despite his attempted betrayel, there always a use for a man of science.

Aeleus. A silent stalwart guardian, though they had their disagreements, he did find comfort in this man's unwavering support. However, he knew that this guardian had no love for the Seeker and only followed him because there was no turning back.

Ienzo. The boy was an enigma at best and he schemed for his early overthrow at worst. When the boy was killed during an attempted coup, the Seeker found him hard to miss. Still, he was the third most capable in his band and could still be kept in line.

Isa. While he had doubted this beserker's loyalty at first, now there was no doubt that he was incredibly trustworthy and useful. Afterall, that was how he had been formed. The Seeker knew that the berserker may have planned to betray him but ultimately succumbed to the chains which had been placed on his heart.

Lea. This young man was entertaining to follow. A dancer amidst the flames of fate who believed his every action could somehow leave a mark on those he encountered. He was very competent and reliable in all but one matter, however. He died by his own hand defending that which he had already lost.

Myde. A competent but insignificant musicion who only joined to save his own existance. He fought and lost a battle he could not win though the attempt was admirable. In truth however, it was Lea and Isa who insisted on his recruitment, to the Seeker, he was nothing more than a pawn to fill in the ranks.

Ordul. Little could be mentioned of this gambler for he kept most opinions to himself. Perhaps he had been weary of the plans of his superiors and dreaded to be used as a pawn, but if that were the case, he eventually accepted his role and did not intrude upon his superior's goals

Lumaria. The man was a graceful figure but was a poor murderer from the seeker's own experience. Not content with his role on the board, he took possession of a fortress of oblivion and incited rebellion. The seeker laughed when he was killed by a whims of a lonely little girl and a powerful but naive boy.

Renela. This sadistic nymph always amused the seeker. She claimed not desire a heart but he could see through her. It wasn't that a heart was not her goal, but that she feared it. A detail emergent from her past no doubt, but it did not excuse her betrayal.

Sora. An interesting tale, the boy was both the bane and golden egg of his assembly. But his curiosity got the better of him and caused him to abandon the Seeker's fold. He sent a shadow of the boy after him, but it was absorbed and empowered the fool. Then he was captured and reformed with his original self.

When the slots were filled, the nobody symbol faded away as the outline of the chalice glowed. The seeker placed his hand upon it and uttered a two words with the voice of his mind.

No Heart.

The chalice faded and drained into the material of the door and slid open before him. Inside was a room of colorless walls and a floor of clear glass. He walked upon the floor and did not slip, appearences were decieving indeed. As he walked it did not take long for him to recognize that which sat upon a throne of Gold.

His Armor.

The Armor was branded with a single Nobody emblem centered on the torso, Nobody emblem-esque thorns protruding from its greaves, and Nobody emblem-esque thorns wrapping around its boots. Its crown and shoulder pad were gold, while the rest of the armor was colored in light shades of blue and silver. It had two silver belts on its waist and what seem to be white feathers on its right shoulder in place of a spiked pauldron. Several cords crisscrossed in front of its torso, connecting a pair of baggy sleeves to massive, oblong pieces of armor worn on each arm. The helm's faceplate was beak-like in structure and it possessed clawed gauntlets.

"A shame that I may never thank Xemnas...but it matters not." The compulsion of gratitude to a being that did not exist was of course only practical. Though the deeds of his alter egos did not meet his original plans, their efforts nontheless would go along way in advancing his current schemes. "I had cast you away once...didn't I?" The helm of the armor looked up to the intruder and slowly raised it's gauntlet towards him and charged a black orb circulating with white electricity.

While others would have been on guard at once, the man just stood and held up his own hand. His face was unflinching as an identical orb appeared in his open palm while white and grey electricty also sparked from around it as though it were a sprout of thorns.

"You acknowledge me?" The helm swung it's gauntlet and the orb broke into a surge of black grey that crashed all around the Seeker. When the surge was gone, he dissipated his own orb and felt an armrest of smooth stone beneath and behind his hand.

"Here it began." The man whom once held the name Ansem said when he sat within the throne opposite of the armor, "And now it begins, again." His eyes closed and he drifted to sleep as he slouched into the surprisingly comfortable chair. All moved according to his will and when he awoke, it would not be long until the next stage of his plan would begin.

This time, Kingdom Hearts would be his.

* * *

 

**KINGDOM HEARTS:**

****

**_THRONES OF THE FOUR PILLARS_ **


	2. Prepare: Encroachment

**_A vision of Dread...echoes of her greatest fear..._ **

"LET ME GO!" In vain, she struggled against the Heartless' grasp as a silver haired black coated man stroked and admired his captured prey whom the guardian held helpless before him. A gasp escaped when his lifeless hand touched her neck while the other caressed her back and down further than anyone ever had, but she couldn't break eye contact with the man as he leaned in closer to her face.

Looking into his cold gold eyes, she didn't dare say anything before the man who caused so much misery as Ansem the Seeker just stared back and smiled. His face was now so close to her's that she could fell his silent breath against her skin. His eyes of amber yellow bore no remorse, no sorrow, only hunger for darkness and desire to claim all that he desired.

"Get...your hands...OFF OF HER!" Ansem turned and gestured to repel a great wave of light and fire that crashed down around him. His Guardian Heartless was forced to recede into the shadows, allowing an unharmed or affected Kairi to drop to her knees in weariness and exhaustion. She turned and there stood Sora, tightly gripping his keyblade as he bared his teeth at Ansem. The boy had tears flowing out of his heavy eyes, no doubt because he had felt the sheer measure of Ansem's deed, enough to ignore the serious injuries that still showed.

"You live? The doctor was right about you," Ansem mused as he summoned a keyblade possessing a spiky, black guard resembling demonic wings, a horned, demonic head just above the handle, two barbed shafts, and teeth resembling a battle axe split into three almost claw-like protrusions and almost gestured for Sora to approach, "Surrender is foreign to your heart."

"How dare you! Xehanort! You're not gonna get away with any of this!" Sora vanished from sight and reappeared above Ansem, delivering a series of light enhanced spinning strikes which the Seeker countered with a barrier of darkness. The combatants pulled from their attacks, only for Sora to fall upon a knee, blood dripping from his mouth.

"While avenging myself for your meddling is amusing," Ansem admitted, the coat-tails of his jacket swaying in the wind, "I'd much rather deal with the princess at the moment. Stand aside, we shall settle our strife at another time." He turned away from Sora and started towards Kairi with a devious smirk. By now she would have run except that her body felt numbed to her commands. Perhaps it was fear, hopelessness, or maybe the Guardian absorbed her energy, whatever had happened, she was not at this man's mercy.

"No!" Sora cried out as he leapt towards his mortal enemy. The Guardian appeared with Soul Eater infused into both arms, but Sora just allowed the creature to stab him before dispelling the Heartless symbiote with a single slash and meeting his keyblade with Ansem's."

"...Sora..." Kairi weakly cried out as Ansem pushed back the young keyblade master and relinquished his keyblade as Sora struggled to get on his feet only to manage to stand on a single knee.

Asnem's smirk now grew into a full sinister smile, "She clearly wishes to fight her own battle and I will not be careless as Roxas was with his little friend-" An explosion of light occured, revealing Sora wearing Silver Armor over his clothes with  **Truth Savior**  in one hand and  **Kingdom Ultima**  in the other. The wielder vanished and struck Ansem with enough force to throw him into the air when he appeared. Sora jumped up and delivered a lightning fast series of strikes that the surprised Ansem was unable to fully dodge or block.

Kairi watched as amidst the connected strikes, Sora pushed Ansem further into the air and threw  **Kingdom Ultima**  for a successful Strike Raid as he began to fall. While the Strike Raid forced Ansem further into the air, Sora vanished and appeared above Ansem in time to deliver a downward double strike which rocketed Ansem into the city streets below. The resultant shockwave from Ansem's crash sent dust into the air forcing Kairi to cough to keep her lungs clear. Tears still in her eyes, she gathered herself and looked over the building's edge to see Sora standing off with a battered but otherwise impressed Ansem.

"You won't hurt any of my friends ever again!" Sora cried out, "Not while I'm standing!"

"...Very well...I had hoped to meet you in better shape than you are," Ansem lamented, "But let us put this rivalry to rest." Time stood still as Ansem and Sora circled each other. Neither one looked ready to back down, one wished to protect his friends while the other wanted only to punish this boy for his trangressions of both the past and future.

"COME ON!" With that Sora made the first move and vanished from sight. Ansem followed suit and also vanished. Kairi could only watch as another building was slashed in half followed quickly by floods of light and darkness crashing through the streets and demolishing the concrete. The Ground itself seemed to upheave as Kairi was tossed from the rooftop. She reflexively landed on her feet, but she worried for the others. Then the two combatants appeared once more and slashed past each other.

"I had hoped...for this to be more satisfying..." Ansem mocked as darkness smoked from the wound on his shoulder until the wound was no more. "It seems that your heart has led you to obliteration. As I said once, perhaps it pays to follow one's heart. I'm glad that I was sure to remember that." Sora stiffened to Kairi's horror, blood flowed from his mouth now, it leaked out of the armor, it came out from the tears of his sleeves.

"I'm sorry everyone...I'm sorry...Kairi..." Sora tearfully whispered as the keyblades fell from his grip and hit the ground with a clang before vanishing. His armor fell off piece by piece until his upper body was revealed, blood and darkness gushed from his wounds. Finally, his body wavered and his eyes grew dim as he fell forward.

"SOOOORRRRRAAAA!" cried the Princess of Hearts as she ran to her falling beloved. Catch him, heal him, protect him, she just wanted to be there for him in this dark hour. Ansem merely watched the scene unfold, watched as Kairi reached Sora, close enough to catch him and keep him from hitting the ground. But that was when the Guardian's cruelly hand slung around her waist and chest, holding her back and forcing her to watch as Sora her Dearly Beloved, the Sky of her world fell to darkness and remained motionless...

* * *

**_Arms of Sanctuary, where fears and lies melt away..._ **

"Kairi!" Kairi opened her eyes and shakingly stared into the blues of a dear friend, "Are you alright? You were screaming and shaking."

"Sora?..." She could have sworn that she had seen him die. But the warmth of his hand, the sound of waves outside of their treehouse...this was real, "Sora!" She tightly wrapped her arms around Sora and cried onto his shoulder. He was obviously confused, but wrapped an arm around her back and used the other to smooth her long red hair.

"It'll be okay. I'm here and Riku's here too." He assured her, most friends would have bashed the girl for crying over a nightmare at the age of sixteen. But Sora knew better, he had the same nightmares two years ago after his home was destroyed. But stayed there, never once inching himself from his friend. Riku hopped down from his bed further up the tree pat Kairi's shoulder.

"Here...drink this." Riku suggested, offering the girl a cup of water. She lifted her head from Sora's shoulder and released an arm as well to grab hold of the cup. Sora exchanged a worried glance with Riku as Kairi drained the cup. Riku was always cooler about these situations, he gave an assuring smirk and motioned towards Kairi.

"Thank you guys." She said to both of her friends, finally releasing herself from Sora. "I...I just need to sit up for a while."

"Take your time then." Sora agreed as Riku climbed back up to his bed while Sora turned to balance along down to his, but felt a firm grip on his hand, "Kairi?"

"Please stay." She almost pleaded, now on the verge of tears, "Don't...leave me...again..." Sora quickly ran back to her and wrapped her into a strong embrace.

"I'm not going anywhere Kairi." He assured her as he guided her to her bed and laid her onto it. He then placed the sheet over her and laid down ontop of the sheet next to her, "I'll stay as long as you want."

"Thank you." Kairi weakly but whole heartedly said. She laid there and stared into Sora's ever so blue eyes. She didn't care if it was a common eye color for most people, it didn't his any less beautiful. Her last sight on them, she closed her eyes and drifted into slumber, knowing that Sora was doing the exact same. It was in a very sweet pose that Riku saw them when he peaked down. Faces towards one another, a pair of hands intwined above their heads, he almost resisted the temptation of bringing out a camera.

If it wasn't quiet or had a flash, he would not have lived to see morning.

* * *

**_Yen Sid's Tower_ **

Mickey, King of Disney Castle and Keyblade Master, now sat at the table of Yen Sid, his former master. It had been a week since his mentor had informed him of Xehanort's return. The news still shocked Mickey to a great degree, but he had passed most of it in order to prepare for the days that were likely to come. But today, there was one loose end that perplexed both of the keyblade magi.

"We know where Ventus and Aqua are..." A seated Yen Sid concluded, "But why does Terra's whereabouts elude us?"

"Terra..." King Mickey said as if in thought, he then looked up with a start and slammed his hands on Yen Sid's desk "I know what happened to him."

"I can guess your hypothesis and it...disturbs me." Yen Sid admitted as he awaited his former apprentice's input.

"Xemnas, The Superior of Organization XIII...and Ansem, The Seeker of Darkness...they both strongly resembled Terra and yet..." Mickey continued, remembering his brief but memorable encounters with the figures he mentioned, and then shock his head, "But that's impossible! How could Xehanort possess another wielder...especially someone as strong as Terra!"

"Terra was mighty keyblader, that cannot be disputed. But he also struggled with the darkness within his heart." Yen Sid stated, recalling when he encountered Terra almost twelve years ago, "I have a feeling that Xehanort, having gained a mastery over darkness, managed to manipulate young Terra further into the darkness...easily allowing Xehanort to possess him to extend his power and youth."

"Then...oh no!" Mickey now looked troubled, finding Terra seemed a lot harder than it appeared, "Then what happened to Terra's heart when Xehanort became his heartless Ansem and nobody Xemnas!"

"I do not know." Yen Sid admitted "Both of those entities were strongly dominated by Xehanort's heart and ambitions which means that Terra...may have been consumed."

"The portal" Mickey said, it was a haze since Sora didn't talk much about it, but desire forced the information to the forefront of his mind.

"Portal? Explain." Yen Sid stated while the mouse king elaborated.

"Sora mentioned that he found a portal to the Badlands and battled an Enigmatic Soldier who used a keyblade when he last visited Disney Castle." Mickey explained, "The Soldier asked about Ven and Aqua before mentioning Xehanort and attacking Sora."

"Lingering Sentiment..." Yen Sid said to himself, "Whatever happened during the battle of the Keyblade Graveyard, Terra's will must have formed a Lingering Sentiment after Xehanort possessed his body.

"Then we know where Terra is!" King Mickey shouted in optimism, "I bet ya that Terra's heart might've gone to that sentiment after Xehanort became a heartless."

"Perhaps...but unlikely as Xehanort is still in control of the original body." Yen Sid advised, "However, nothing is certain until we discover this Sentiment...as for Xehanort himself."

"I've already got Donald and Goofy looking for Terra's armor and was gonna send a letter to Sora and Riku telling em everything they need to know about the Mark of Mastery." Mickey affirmed, "But I've gotta feeling that we're badly outnumbered somehow."

"Darkness has many avenues and Xehanort is a man of many schemes." Yen Sid remarked and massaged his beard as he made a reluctant confession, "No...we are outnumbered." Yen Sid then stood up and said, "Mickey...before you set out, contact your apprentice and send him to the Destiny Islands, have Sora and Riku bring the Princess as well."

"Well...alright," Mickey agreed with reluctance, he had only started training his apprentice a short while after Xemnas' end and he knew that it would take more than a year to prepare the boy for what was to come.

"We cannot hope to properly train Sora and his friends with just us two." Yen Sid admitted, "We need Aqua."

"Then Sora'll be the one to find her." Mickey assured his former master, though he himself was starting to have doubts and deep down blamed himself for not going with Aqua when she went to Radiant Garden.

"I hope he does so soon," Yen Sid said as he and Mickey made their way to the library, "My heart tells me...that Xehanort is already in motion."

* * *

_**Hills of Ghibli** _

A man sat upon a hill, looking upon this place which he only now found the time to visit. The wind blew a soothing breeze that relaxed his body, he had only recently remembered what it was like to feel the air caress across his skin. With a sign, he stood and prepared to carry out the deed he had come to do.

"A Valley within the Wind, Kingdoms of the Sky, Bathes of the Spirit, Forests of Wolves and Iron," The man mused as the sun beamed down above him. The skies of this world were so prestine and beautiful...it would be shame to have them die at the height of natural joy. "Long have I observed this world and its strength. But it too shall fall." The man summoned his weapon, that which both safeguarded and destroyed worlds and pointed it straight up. His shadow grew and branched up along the weapon's blade before it concentrated into a black beam that shot straight up into the sky. The beam soon died and the shadow returned to its place, but the sky now darkened as the sun's light grew dimmer and weaker.

"This world has been connected. Tied to the darkness... soon to be completely eclipsed." The man stated, satisfied at the devastation that would soon befall these hills, "The others...They understand so little...one who knows nothing can understand nothing." He stabbed the air with his weapon, summoning a rift through which he walked, taking no heed of the many creatures of the darkness that rushed past him, intent on feasting on the world he had prepared for them.

Once more, Darkness shall conquer all worlds.

* * *

**_Heart of Light_ **

"Tidus? Selphie? Wakka?" Kairi couldn't remember exactly when she came to the island, but she knew something was wrong at once. For one, she was still in her night clothes and nobody reacted. In fact, none of the kids made a single move. All of them were glued into place, as if time had frozen in this place. Her fears only grew when she her best friends standing in front of the Secret Place's entrance, "Riku! Sora!" She ran, only to find them also frozen in place, their backs to her.

"Do not fear...they are unharmed." spoke a voice that instantly froze every nerve in Kairi's spine, "Turn aside for a moment and take a look." Almost on reluctant instinct, she turned and saw a man standing on the shore. "What do you see my dear?"

"The ocean." Kairi answered, knowing that this man was here to do harm. She saw nothing of this stranger, except for the spiky grey hair that flowed down his back.

"Yes, but to the heart seeking freedom, this place is a prison...surrounded by water," The figure stated, his arms open to the waves as they foamed and roamed, "To the heart seeking strength, it is an impassible wall ever separating you from that which you cherish."

"Who are you?" Kairi asked, realizing how scared her voice sounded. But this feeling of dread and fear, she had felt it before from four different people. All of whom were vaguely similar somehow.

"Who am I?" The man turned slowly, as if in slow motion, to face Kairi, "Which answer shall suffice for you?" The figure then shifted into an bald elder garbed in Ansem's attire, "Perhaps I am an old man, who sought ruin to create a harmonous balance?" Then the figure became taller, buffer, with grey spiky hair, clothed in a black tight shirt, "Maybe I am a fallen wielder, who lost his heart to the darkness?" Then the buff warrior became leaner with longer spikier hair and a white overcoat, "Or a traitorous apprentice, one who betrayed his colleagues and master and gave himself to the darkness that swarmed forth?" Then the overcoat grew black and the figure now fully appeared as Ansem, "Nay, am I a Seeker of Darkness? A possessor of they who open themselves to darkness?" Ansem then faded and grew longer hair and now donned a fully black robe as he appeared as Organization XIII's Superior, "Or I am simply a wayward soul who accepted nothingness to fill the void of his being?"

"Ansem?" Kairi asked until an elderly voice from a year ago jogged her memory,  _"Xehanort...foolish apprentice to a foolish man._ " "...No..." Her eyes narrowed as she realized who this man was, "...Xehanort."

"Good girl, you remember me?" Xehanort said as he became a new form. The hair of the Seeker with a skin tone that ranged as a compromise between Xemnas and Ansem wearing the same black jacket as Ansem over a cuiress of grey armor, "Not completely I see, it would be too much to ask. You were just a girl when we first met."

"What...what do you want with me?" Kairi asked, somehow realizing that she was in terrible danger.

"To invite you, my dear." Xehanort snarked with supreme confidence, "In my haste, I never properly invited you to my side."

"And I should accept this?" Kairi shot back, defiantly remaining uncooperative with this man, "You destroyed my world, took away my heart, turned Riku to the darkness, killed Sora-"

"If I recall, I was not the one who opened the door to your world," The Seeker mocked, "Riku was the culprit of that action and I merely accepted his invitation into both your world and his heart. As for Sora, his intention was his own as was his action-"

"SHUT UP!" Without forethought, Kairi punched out her arm and fired a massive bolt of light that seemed to strike Xehanort and leave no trace of him upon the sands of the island.

"Light. Such raw power in that light," The Seeker complemented from the unseen shadows, "But all was brought forth from darkness, even light."

"The island!" Kairi shouted as she saw the ocean waters turn purple and all of the sand become as black as storm clouds, suddenly she realized the truth, "This...this isn't real!"

"Cleaver girl, then you will not mind if I leave you a companion?" The voice of the Seeker spoke again as a massive head poked out from the black sand. Instantly recognizing it as a heartless, she shook in fear and raised her arms in some petty reflex of defense.

 ** _"Why do you fly?"_**  A firmer but unfamiliar voice chided as Kairi frantically walked back from the dark giant,  ** _"The darkness will only pursue you."_**

"I CAN'T FIGHT IT!" Kairi cried out as the Darkside stalked towards her, brandishing a large black claymore as it approached, "I'M NOT SORA, I'M NOT A FIGHTER!"

 ** _"Enough."_**  Tears streamed down as Kairi watched the creature approach  _ **"You will stand or you will fall. That is not a choice."**_ It was at this point where Kairi realized that she stood upon the end of the island. Another step meant falling into an unknown ocean,  ** _"It is only when you stand that you know you can walk."_**

"Then...I'll fight." Kairi finally accepted, taking her stance and giving way no more.

"Your strength is great, but unfocused..." A brilliant flash bloomed and died, leaving a keyblade levitating before Kairi, "You may take mine for the moment." The princess instinctively gripped her hand around the keyblade's grip. The blade looked similar to the OathKeeper she saw Sora use once, except that wings on the handle were more silver and one wing seemed darker and shorter than the other. The shaft seemed more akin to an actual blade accept that the head jutted out from the bottom edge as a sharp single-edged blade.

"Thank you." Kairi said to the air as the creature now loomed over her. It wasted no time, breaking down a heavy slash that Kairi rolled to the side to avoid. She jumped onto the creature's arm and noticed it's heart shaped hole over the chest. Remembering what Sora had said about these creatures, she quickly climbed along the creature's arm and jumped over to stab the seemingly empty hole.

The creature swerved its entire body up and left to avoid the blow and brought its claw down over the Princess's back. She cried out when the claws etched through her back and threw her into the air. She didn't know what happened next, but a reflex switched on when she saw the Darkside's claymore swinging up towards her.

Defend.

The dark blade shattered against the barrier Kairi created with the keyblade. She flipped down and clove through the heartless' massive shoulder before feeling her chest hit the ground. She regained her breath and wiped a smudge of blood from her mouth as the Darkside's arm fell off, causing its former owner to kneel over to staunch the essence that leaked out. Kairi stood back on her feet as eight more heartless, which she recognized as neoshadows appeared to defend their leader.

She couldn't even remember slashing through them when they lunged at her. Three had managed to slash her arm, chest and stomach, but they didn't live long to enjoy it. She looked and saw that the Darkside had recovered and now grew an oversized white arm out of the stub where he had lost it's original arm. The darkness ozzed forth from the Darkside's body to form an exoskeletal surface over the newly formed arm. The arm extended out and Kairi barely managed to leap over it as it was swiped through her area.

She landed only to feel something wrap around her feet, she looked down to see that her feet had sunken into a myriad of black sludge produced by the Heartless' darkness. Realizing that she was sinking even futher, she stabbed her keyblade into the sludge to help pull herself out but found that she now been pulled up to her thighs. She push as she looked up and saw that the Darkside had changed.

Two long antennae had sprouted from the top of its head and she could now see it's teeth filled mouth hang open with white bandages wrapped across it's now more defined and muscular chest and arms. It stalked towards Kairi as she failed to dislodge herself from the ever deepening sludge that threatened to engulf her. She didn't know which to be worried about, the heartless towering over her or the darkness that even now pressed against her hips and stomach as though it were trying to crush her into two halves. The creature summoned a blacked blade in it's original arm and held it's arm back ready to thrust the blade through the pinned down and exposed young maiden.

Now up just past her naval, Kairi knew that she had to do something to get out her predicament. She pulled her blade from the sludge and gripped it with both hands even as she continued to sink and felt a warming essence emerge from the keyblade's hilt. It was a glimmer, but she concentrated on that glimmer, knowing that the endurance of the glimmer was the only thing that might save her. She watched as the Darkside swung down and held up her keyblade to block the attack. Except that she had thrown up the blade too early to block the attack.

Instead, an orb of blazing light shot out of the keyblade's head.

The orb destroyed the black blade and scorched against the Darkside's face before it blazed up towards the shrouded sky. Feeling the sludge's hold on her weaken when the Darkside was wounded, Kairi quickly used all the strength she could and pulled herself out in time to avoid a black claw that had reached out from the sludge. Feeling the glimmer's strength grow, Kairi pointed the keyblade at the heartless' hand and stood firm as a surge of light stabbed through the hand and caused it and the sludge it emerged from the vaporize into the air. As she turned, she felt intense pain as four massive black fingers tore through the front of her body and sent her tumbling across the island sand.

Kairi checked herself as she stood and found that blood was dripping from open wounds. If she had to guess, she'd say that they were mostly on her stomach and upper chest. This would cause most to pause and wonder if they were indeed in a dream but Kairi didn't have time. She staggered but stood up to see that the Darkside was holding it's arms over it's head, a great ball of black fire forming as it gave a chilling smile that displaced it's blood stained teeth. The fear she felt caused her breath to grow cold and a chill to entrap her bones. But she would not run, even as she cried the princess would not yield, if she was to grow stronger she could not run. She couldn't cry for someone to save her or for a miracle to occur.

She would have to leap in order to fly.

Kairi charged as the Darkside threw it's ball of darkness towards her. She ran full speed, keyblade ready and concentrating on the glimmer that would endure and stabbed the ball with the keyblade. The ball pushed against her attack as though guided by all the powers of hell but she did not retreat, she stepped forward and pressed back. Her keyblade shattered and exploded in a radiance of light during the struggle while the force of her action threw her upon the ground, but her foe had the worst of it. Kairi's action managed to rupture and shrink the ball, causing it to turn into a smaller orb of pure light that backfired into the Darkside's chest. The Darkside instantly vaporized as the ball kept going, flying across this place with mighty speed. Kairi managed to barely stand and watched as the ball struck the horizon and sent a mighty wind in all directions.

 ** _"Well done."_  **The voice congratulated as Kairi fell to the ground in exhaustion, **_"Rest now...for you will need your strength...for the tribulation ahead of you."_** Her vision faded as the light broke through this dark illusion and filled her fall into slumber with a beautiful luster. ** _  
_**

* * *

_**Destiny Islands** _

"Where is she?" It was just past sunset when an impatient Sora asked about the third member of their trio. To pass time, he and Riku sparred with Tidus, Wakka and each other or simply swam out as far as they were able. Now it was about time to head back to the mainland, but Sora was all too eager to talk to his "destined one" (Riku found the drawing in the secret place).

Though Riku didn't blame Sora given Kairi's nightmare last night. Riku couldn't remember the last time he had seen Kairi having a that bad of a reaction...not since she first arrived to the Islands. He actually thought it was cute that Sora was so concerned for her, but the nightmare wasn't the only reason. Riku knew that he was partially to blame, he could have chosen better timing to tell Sora about a newfound ability of Kairi's...

_"What are you doing out here?" Riku asked as he spotted Sora sitting in his usual spot on the tree. It was barely after sunrise and school was going to start in a few hours. Not that Riku really cared about being late but jumping over buildings to arrive on time tended to draw attention.  
_

_"Thinking." Sora simply answered, eyes glued to the horizon for some reason. Riku knew that it had to do with his decision to leave soon, but neither of the boys had heard from the King for a while which left Sora stranded for now.  
_

_"A dangerous past time," Riku chided which earned a chuckle from Sora as he leaned against the tree, "You don't...blame me for not telling you about Terra, do you?"_

_"You kept a promise." Sora said lightly, blowing off the concern in Riku's voice, "I'm not gonna hold that against ya."_

_"Figures," Riku replied as he looked out towards the horizon beyond the great sea. "I've been thinking and I think I'll go with you."_

_"What?" A startled Sora would have originally fallen from his place on the tree but given what he went through a year ago, he just hung upside down before he flipped off and stood next to his friend, "Riku, you don't have to go-"_

_"And leave you by yourself, nah." Riku lightly said, Sora couldn't help but admit that Riku's reply was too cool to directly fight. Still, there were several reasons for Sora's reaction, among them..._

_"What about Kairi?" "We can't just leave her here-"_

_"Then she can come too." Riku simply suggested with a smirk. Sora knew the reason for that smirk and put his head and hands on the log in some embarrassed response._

_"Riku," Sora said with a serious tone, one which Riku saw coming, "I didn't spend over a year to save her just to drag her out into danger again-"_

_"She'll be in danger regardless, Sora," Riku stated before Sora could start again, while Sora just continued to stare seriously and yet confused, Riku exhaled and decided to enlightened his younger brother, "That's right, she never did tell you."_

_"Tell me what?" Sora demanded with lighter yet concerned curiousity._

_"You remember just before we met up in the Tower that Never Was?" Riku asked while Sora started to remember that meeting, "I didn't fight off the heartless on my own..."_

"So worried about her, why don't you swing by her house?" Riku asked while Sora gave the same embaressed reaction he always gave. Riku chuckled, teasing his young friend was way too much fun, "Shessh Sora. You're way too easy to tease."

"Okay I like Kairi, so what?" Riku was just as surprised to hear Sora admit that and just shook his head and looked ahead. Sora on the other hand didn't want to give him time to scheme, "Unless you're-" It was then that he noticed a rare wide glance from his friend, the kind of look he gave when something really scarred him. "Riku?"

"Sora." Perplexed, Sora followed his friend's glance into the evening sky and his own eyes widened at what he saw.

"The sky?" Sora said as he noticed the outline around a star grow darker until it began to encrouch upon it, "Wait! No way-"

"A star is going out." Riku concluded as the darkness stole more and more of the star's glimmer. The sign of a failing world, "Did you-"

"I thought I stopped that from happening for good!" Sora said, remembering that the closing of the DtD meant the end of the Heartless Invasion, "Did you-"

"No! Then who-" Before they could speculate further, the two boys looked up to see that a meteor was riding across the Island sky, "A meteor's heading straight for us."

"What should we-" The ground rumbled beneath them as something slammed closer inland to the island, "That...was fast."

"Come on! We've gotta check it out." With that, Sora and Riku took off to where the object struck the Destiny Islands. As they ran, Sora gave a quick glance to the beach and thought he saw himself ten years younger taking the hand of a like-aged red haired girl. The image faded as the ocean waters reflected stars shooting across the sky, no doubt survivors from the world that was just destroyed. They skid to a stop and came upon a small crater filled with a stemming blue sapphire that had contained an unconscious form.

"Hey! Are you alright?" Sora asked as he jumped into the crater and lifted up the form's face from the ground. It turned out to be a boy at about 14 years old, his clothing seemed somewhat odd to the boys until he realized that he was from another world.

"Master!" cried the furry creature as it desperately combed the boy's hair and face to help him wake up, "Master must get up! Or Master will never find his teacher's friends!"

"What?" Sora hopped out of the crater and saw smoke rising from an island further out to sea. "Hold on! There's another one!" Riku nodded for Sora to go and he didn't just go, he skipped on the sand and leapt across the sea to the island. Sora always had a way of reminding everyone of what they've been through and intended to learn and remember everything from it. The boy's eyelids started to flutter, which told Riku that the boy was ready to wake up.

"Here, let me help you up." Riku slung the boy's arm over his shoulder and hauled him from the burnt sand. The boy was conscious enough to stand on reflex, but his balance was not to be trusted.

"My...head..." The boy muttered as he placed his free hand over his forehead to massage it, "Gurgi? Where are you?"

"Gurgi's right here master!" The furry creature cried as it climbed onto the young boy's back and pulled a half eaten apple out of the boy's vest.

"Who are you guys?" Riku asked as he walked the young man out of the crater while Gurgi hobbled ahead, apparently eyeing one of the fruit trees, "We don't get many visitors around here."


	3. Pounce: The Hunter Strikes

**_Depths of Darkness_ **

For twelve years she wandered these dark sunless depths. The realm where all light that enters in shall in time fade and die. The kingdom of despair and dread, where a single moment of aloofness will be the cause of a wanderer's death.

Twelve years to contemplate her circumstances. A decade and so to watch as the darkness crept into paths which she could not enter and watch them invade the Realm of her True home. Where her friends awaited her, she didn't know what happened to her family, but she had to ensure that they were alright...that they were safe. Those were the thoughts that kept her going for all these years.

Even now, she could not even remember the names of those she loved as siblings. As she walked along the path, she paused and looked into a broken shard of glass that was her size. It was moments like this that the woman reflected on, so fleeting was reprieve in this dark place.

As expected, she hadn't aged a day since she sacrificed her armor to save her friend, leaving her with naught but her own training, strength of heart and Master Keeper, the keyblade of her Fallen Master to help her survive. Her hair, clear as sapphire had now grown to rest on her shoulders since the girl had little time to care for cutting it. Her form fitting clothes were ragged and torn in several areas along her lower back, stomach, upper chest, and her shorts hardly looked like shorts at all. The tights that she wore below her shorts were gone except for whatever remained under the armored boots she wore. She only had one of her original sleeves and it was due to fall off after the next attack.

In this place, modesty was the least of her concerns since the creatures here sought for nothing more than the light within her heart...if snuffed out, she would die.

Fortunately, she refused to die.

When she first arrived, they attacked her in droves which she strained to fight off. These creatures of darkness, they seemed like another demon who had destroyed her friend's heart, but feral and hungry. As time went on, they ceased to mindlessly assault her and seemed content to attack from the shadows. She still remembered the first time she attempt to sleep in this realm, if not for her training, she would have died before she was awoken by the snarls of Darkness. But that didn't stop them from nearly ripping off her arm and digging into her side. When she drove off the creatures, she healed her wounds but they remained as red marks on her body for a long time while the tears in her clothes were unheeded.

Recently however, she had found that she was not the only wanderer in these lands of darkness. It was only upon the arrival of an old man in a black robe that she knew that it had been twelve years...but with no sun or moon, she had lost all sense or care for time. Despite his fading memories, the sage gave a powerful account of a young man whom had saved the worlds from darkness. The boy's name brought joy to her heart, but she had been lost in this realm for so long, she could not remember why the name was so warming.

But just as she found comfort in the presence of another, the sage vanished. Somehow, hearing the name of that boy had sparked Aqua's desire to survive any further and somehow, she had come to notice that she did not like to be alone anymore. So she stood up and returned into the darkness to find him. At first she tread familiar territory, but found that the landscape was becoming increasingly plain and cold as she walked. The atmosphere reminded her of a graveyard.

"Where is he?" The girl asked aloud as she searched, the man's cloak possessed a property that allowed him to walk through this realm unhindered, but it also made it harder for the girl track him.

"Another opening!" She cried as the portal of light opened in the black sky. But instead of darkness going into it as before, a beam of darkness tore out of the portal and struck the ground in the distance. "Heartless...they're gathering..." That was what the sage called them, creatures born from the darkness of the worlds which feed upon the darkness in people's hearts. As they appeared and surged towards the dark pillar, she paused to remember when she had come across these creature's handiwork.

The Castle of Dreams, Enchanted Dominion, Dwarf Woodlands...even Radiant Garden, all destroyed by the darkness. She dared not remember what she found when she wandered that which fell into this place.

Then the ground about her shook and she saw that the pillar was going larger and more violent.

"No..." She gasped as something fell from the hole in the sky. The pillar was so thick that she could see little, but she could make out a windmill rising down from the torrent. There was not mistake, another world had fallen. "Sora...hurry!" She hastened into a sprint, attempting to find her new companion before this surge of darkness overwhelmed him.

* * *

**_Destiny Islands: Child's Island_ **

"I should...ask the same thing," The boy asked with a weak voice, but he must gained a surge of adrenaline because he pushed Riku aside and patted himself down in apparent shock, "Oh no! The Star Shard!"

"What?" Riku was confused by the boy's ramblings. He stood up and started searching through his tunic for something that he had apparently dropped, but eventually gave up and looked downcast.

"The King will be very upset if I don't return the Shard." The boy muttered as he looked ahead, as if he started ignoring Riku's presence, "I must've lost it when I collided with that boy!"

"What boy?" Riku asked only to be distracted as the falling stars completely faded from the sky, ending the meteor shower that had been going on for the past few minutes.

"Thank you for your assistance, but I must be off." The boy said as he started to run off, only to trip over a pebble and hit his face into the sand. Riku smirked and helped the boy to his feet.

"I'll go with you, a name helps as well." Riku said while the boy gasped when he realized his unseen rudeness.

"Then I shall tell my name!" Much to Riku's surprise, the boy summoned a longsword-esque keyblade as he posed and announced, "I am Taran of Caer Dolben, Chosen protector and hero of Prydain, Keyblade Master-in-training under the current Keyblade Master of the Magi-" "and Assistant pig-keeper for the pig, Hengwin...when there's time."

"Okay, my name's Riku," Riku said as he shock hands with Taran, "Great to meet you."

"Riku?...That...sounds like a name I should remember," Taran rubbed his hair in mild irritation, but stopped put his proud face back on for Riku to see, "In any case, I am happy to have your assistance yet again as...Gurgi!"

"Hot island has lots of crunchies and munchies!" The furry creature cried in delight as it skipped across the warm island sand. It spotted a tree and rapidly climbed it to reach the fruit in its branches.

"Gurgi! You don't know what's safe to eat!" Taran yelled as Gurgi grabbed a pineapple and tried to bite it. Only for the jolt from the fruit's tough exterior to cause Gurgi to throw down the pineapple in disgust. Seeing another apparently softer orange, he hopped over to that branch and started eating.

"As long as he avoids the jaw shaped berries, he'll be alright." Riku advised as the creature just played with and ate the fruits and berries it discovered. However, the jaw shaped berries were very good but they also contained a tasteless secretion that could leave a limb numbed for days. Just something else he learned from Sora's "bright ideas" from when he was ten. Sure Riku egged him on, but he just wanted to tease him about not being a man for Kairi...he toned down while Sora recovered.

"I'll be back shortly! Don't get yourself into trouble!" Taran yelled as he followed Riku along the island while Gurgi continued to pick out fruits and continue eating. Judging from Taran's annoyed expression, Riku could see that this was something the little creature did often.

* * *

_**Isle off the shore of Child's Island** _

"Poor little guy," Sora thought to himself as he hopped into the crater and saw that the boy was somehow levitating just inches above the crater's burnt soil with a necklace adorned with a blue crystal floating in the air above him. The necklace fell dim as Sora approached and he caught the boy just in time. "Got ya, just hang in there." The boy looked to be about twelve and had a brown hat on his dark brown untidy hair. He wore recently patched pants and a brown jacket with a long sleeved shirt that had one of the sleeves torn.

"Shee...Sheeta..." The boy muttered amidst his unconcious state. Judging from the boy's pained expression, Sora figured that Sheeta was a friend of the boys.

"Is he from the world that was...destroyed?" Sora pondered after he set the boy onto the island sand. He went back to see the crater the boy had lied in. The inside of the crater was lined with a blue substance that gave a slight glow when Sora brushed his hand against it, "It's almost similar to the Gummi blocks, but...they feel smoother." He heard a choked cry and realized that the boy had woken up, "Hold on!" Sora jumped out and went to the child's side, his eyes were open but Sora wasn't sure if he was fully conscious, in any case, the boy's chest was heaving heavily.

"Gone...It's all...gone..." Sora heard the boy moan, he didn't look physically harmed since there were no cuts or brushes on him, but Sora could feel a different worse pain within the boy's spirit. Seeing that the boy had noticed his presence, Sora exhaled in relief, the boy was in shock but would pull through.

"He reminds me of when I first came to Traverse Town..." Sora said to himself, briefly remembering his despair upon finding himself in Traverse Town two years ago... _"What happened to my home! My island?"_  Sora helped the boy sit up against the a small tree, not really knowing what to say next to this exhausted traveler. So, he began with the basics as he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, "I'm Sora, you're safe now."

"Pa..." The boy began to reply, the boy seemed unsure about whether to trust Sora. But before Sora could pull back his arm, the boy clutched Sora's hand with his own while tears leaked out of his dim eyes, "My name's Pazu..."

"Pazu?" Sora didn't know why he was smiling, how could he when this boy had lost everything in just a matter of moments. But, his heart told him that it was the best thing he could do for the boy. Assure him that the darkness was behind him. "Alright, Pazu, we'll go to my place for a while and then me and my friends, we'll help you."

"...Thank you..." Pazu answered with a wide toothy smile before he wiped off his tears. Of course, more tears leaked out then the boy could wipe away so he stopped. He then cried aloud on Sora's shoulder, Sora just let him.

"No sweat." Sora replied to the young crier before the cries ceased and Sora felt a weight press against his body, "Hey!" Sora examined Pazu to find that he had fallen unconcious.

* * *

**Child's Island**

"Another boy?" Riku asked when Sora appeared with Pazu slung over his shoulder, "Where do these guys come from?"

"He's the who bumped into me!" The boy Riku had helped yelled, "Just wait till he wakes up-"

"Whatever he did, he didn't mean it." Sora chided, he could tell that whoever this was had been genuinely offended, but this wasn't the time to deal with it, "Didn't you see the stars while you were traveling?"

"...Well...not exactly," The boy admitted as though he were thinking back, "The Star Shard requires peak concentration to use, so I couldn't star-gaze. Why?"

"Then you didn't see his world get destroyed." Sora stated in a tone that made Riku look at him questionably. Sora figured that he was probably harsh, but this kid needed realize what Pazu had just dealt with. Most would it strange to have a complete stranger defended so greatly, but Sora is a young man who has fought back to back with and trusted his life to strangers for over a year so he was an exception in that way, amongst several others.

"What?" The boy smacked his head and then looked into the sky and looked as though he was running something through his head, "Oh no...then I really need to find the keybearers!"

"The who?" Sora asked, he was sure that the boy was talking about a keyblade wielder but he listened on.

"Forgive me for that and my attitude, I shall introduce myself," The boy then summoned a sword shaped keyblade, much to Sora's amazement and began, "I am Taran of Caer Dalben, protecter and-"

"He's another keyblade wielder and his master sent him here," Riku cut in, Sora was slightly disappointed but didn't mind since he had to get this boy somewhere safe. He spotted the old hang-out shack and ran over to it while Riku inquired more from Taran. Once inside, he gently placed Pazu onto a mat and pulled the blanket over his resting still body. As he closed the door behind him, he summoned  **Kingdom Key**  and gently tapped the door to lock it from intrusion. He then dispelled and ran over to where Riku and Taran were talking.

"My master told me to find two wielders on this world," Sora heard the boy explain to Riku when he rejoined them, "But I forgot their names when-" All three of them stopped, they sensed something coming. "What the-"

"I don't like what I'm smelling," Riku said which made Taran raise an eyebrow in confusion, "Long story, kid."

"Taran, thank you very much." Taran corrected as their assailants finally showed themselves. "The heartless!" A large swarm of them, mostly neoshadows, but there were a few slightly larger bear-formed heartless that Sora and Riku didn't recognize.

"Again?" Sora said aloud as he and Riku summoned their keyblades after Taran ran after them to confront the heartless.

"They never learn." Riku stated with a smirk and started to charge. By the time they arrived, they saw that Taran had already expertly dispatched six neoshadows. The three of them made short work of the heartless they encountered, life and death were on the line but it was still refreshing for Sora and Riku.

"There might be more, you two should get to safety and I'll-" But Taran stopped mid-sentence when he realized he wasn't fighting alone. He simply stood and looked from Way to Dawn and then back to Kingdom Key before addressing their wielders, "Wait...why didn't you just tell me you had keyblades!"

"You didn't ask." Sora pointed out with a shrug.

"Besides, I thought the great keyblade master-in-training would know how to sense other keyblade wielders." Riku teased with a cocky smirk which the boy took some offense to.

"Alright! I've only been an apprentice for a year," Taran admitted with his arms crossed, "But anyway, now that I've found you two, we have to find that keyhole."

"I know where it is!" Sora shouted as he took out another heartless, "You guys stall the heartless and I'll take care of the keyhole!"

"Make it quick Sora!" Riku shouted as Sora ran off towards the Secret Place, leaving him and Taran surrounded by several shadows and neoshadows, "I hope you know how to fight, cause I'm rusty."

"Please...these guys won't be hard." Taran boasted with a wide smile, until two gray claws pulled two of the neoshadows into the pool of darkness beneath them. Then a great white wolf leapt out of the darkness. Blackness dripped from its stained jaws while its white eyes stared down upon the two of them with hungry intent, "That creature...will be a problem."

Riku agreed with a simple nod.

* * *

**_Secret Place_ **

"Here we are." Sora said as he entered the cavern. As he had thought, the door in the back of the cavern had appeared. Knowing what would happen if the heartless found this door. "Not again." Sora summoned  **Kingdom Key**  and prepared to seal the keyhole.

 ** _"Door to the heart..."_**  Spoke a whisper that Sora barely remembered. It gave his spine a familiar chill but otherwise he was perplexed about it's source,  _ **"Only when the door to dark is found can this door to the heart be truly closed."**_  Still, if the whisper was right, then this door to darkness needed to be closed off.

"Then...how do I tell Riku?" Sora pondered as he saw a shadow stumble into the cave. It curiously looked at Sora and gazed at all of the carvings throughout the cave. Which left it open when Sora shot a Frost blast that destroyed it. Sora settled into his trusted battle stance and prepared for the inevitable reinforcements, "If I leave then the heartless will get to the keyhole." He searched for his cell phone, only to realize that he left it at the hang out tree.

"I don't know but...this must be our best shot." He placed his hand on his chest and reached deeper...searching through the bonds to his heart to somehow contact a beloved friend...

* * *

**_Residential Island_ **

"Kairi?" Kairi opened her eyes and looked around her room.

"Sora?" She said aloud, she could have sworn that she just heard Sora call out to her. Until the keyblade Riku gave her a year ago appeared in thin air and levitating above her chest. It pointed to her heart and she suddenly felt that Sora was calling out to her. "Is that you Sora?"

"Kairi!" She heard Sora say in excitement and relief, "I'm glad I got a hold of you!"

"Sorry I couldn't come out today," Kairi apologized, still completely unsure as to how Sora was talking to her like this or how she could talk back with a mere thought, "I wasn't-"

"It's alright! But right now I need your help!" Kairi jumped out of bed on hearing this, she felt Sora was in a mood of urgency but couldn't tell why exactly. But as she stood up, she felt a familiar ping in her heart, one that brought her mind to when she was fourteen standing before the door in the secret place before...

"Where's Riku!" She asked, realizing that the Islands were under attack. The ping in her heart...an old scar from when she lost it to the darkness, now that same darkness had found its way to the islands.

"He's with Taran..." Sora answered to her relief.

"Who?" Kairi asked with perked curiosity.

"We'll talk about it later, right now-" She suddenly felt a rush of adrenaline from Sora, he was being attacked. "You need to find the Keyhole to Light and seal it."

"Me?...But-" Kairi thought carefully of what was being asked, "Sora! I don't know-"

"You've just gotta believe in yourself Kairi, I know I do." Sora assured her, "Besides, Riku told me about your keyblade-" Before he could say anymore, their connection was cut off by another surge of adrenaline and a small amount of excitement.

"Sora!" She tried to reach back out, but found nothing except assurance that Sora was still alive. "I'll do my best...but I don't even know where to look..." She opened the window to her room and looked out. The night sky was surprisingly darker than usual but other than that, she spotted no sign of the heartless. But where was she going to start? She turned back to where the keyblade, Destiny's Embrace, hovered over her bed, waiting for it's wielder to grip it's handle. She walked over to the weapon and carefully placed her open hand under it, the blade dropped into her hand while she reflexively closed her fingers around the handle.

"Either this will show me the way," Kairi said to herself, "Or I'll finally get my woman's intuition." With her keyblade in hand, she leapt out of the window and landed on the grass in the front yard. When she was younger, she would have to carefully climb along the roof and ease herself down when sneaking out, but now, those athletic classes had paid off to where she could jump down a length twice her height without difficulty. But as she stood up, she noticed a small problem...

She was still in pajamas. A thin short shirt that left her naval exposed with blue shorts that hugged her hips and left little to the imagination. She didn't even know why she allowed Selphie to convince her to buy them, it wasn't as though Sora- She wiped off her flustered brow before she put herself back into the necessary mood.

"I set myself up for this..." She said and put the thought of her embarrassing attire out of her mind. She held up her keyblade and focused into it, seeking for where the keyhole to light might be. "Nevermind! What was I worried about?"

"The Lighthouse." She affirmed as she made off through the neighborhood streets...She had to hurry, she didn't know how long Riku and the others would hold up. They were strong, but...she wouldn't take them for granted.

Not after everything they sacrificed for the worlds...and for her.

* * *

**_Child Island Seashore_ **

"I thought you said you were an apprentice?" Riku asked while the battle continued. So far, neither boy had been able to land a significant blow to the wolf due to the black barrier that rested just above the skin when threatened. Not to mention that the creature was far more agile than Riku would have given a normal wolf credit. Furthermore, more heartless eagerly waited to attack one when the wolf focused on the other.

"I am! And I thought you knew what you were doing?" Taran yelled back after swinging his blade through an Invisible multiple times before it was vanquished.

"It's kind of hard when I don't know what I'm dealing with!" Riku countered as he ducked his head to avoid one of the wolf's claws and swung up to finally deal damage to that paw. He thought he saw something red splash from the blow, but ignored when the wolf vanished out of sight. Five shadows jumped out from behind Riku and attempted to crowd him. But Riku easily destroyed them with a single slash, too late he realized that it was a trap and was rewarded with a claw across his back. He swerved under the next claw and fired a Dark Firaga into the wolf's belly.

As expected, not only was his attack weakened from the lack of the darkness he previously harbored but the wolf barely flinched before it bore down on him. He dodged the bite and jumped off of the wolf's jaw to gain distance between the two of them. The wolf roared and prepared to leap after him until a bolt of lightning struck it's side and forced it across the beach. It didn't do much damage, but the wolf was not just as angry with Taran as it had seemed to be with Riku.

"You look like you're under a load!" Taran chided before he barely avoided a swing from another Invisible. He answered with a decisive blow through the creature's boy that dispersed it, "Run if you want, but I'm going to face this creature!"

"Whoever said I was running!" Riku snapped back. "But blinding rushing it hasn't worked so far." Riku leapt forward to avoid the wolf's tackle, spinning as did so to avoid the swings from an invisible that appeared. Riku landed and threw Way to Dawn to cleave through the invisible and strike the wolf's ear before it flew back to Riku after finishing it's arc. The wolf bounded off of the sand and went for Taran while Riku ran to intercept it. Not seeing the beast till the last minute, he cried as it loomed over him. Riku fired a dark firaga to knock the young boy out of the way in time to avoid the wolf's jaws and claws.

The wolf turned back to Riku and howled, charging a red and black ball of energy as Riku's eyes widened in shock. He raised a Dark shield in anticipation, but saw that the wolf was gone. He turned and saw it bare it's open jaws at him before a beam of blackness shot out and engulfed the silver haired teen. He managed to swerve around the barrier to keep from being killed, but the barrier gave way and forced him to quickly expand it out to give him time to jump away from the beam. The shield collapsed just after he landed away from the attack and faded under the powerful attack.

The wolf stalked towards Riku, black sludge dripping from it's jaws as it approached him. Deciding to go on the offensive, he charged and swung for the wolf's head. The wolf swerved swiftly to avoid the blow and all others that Riku threw at it. It then hopped back and lunged for Riku with dark shrouded claws. Riku ducked under the attack and aimed for the underbelly, but was caught off guard when one of the hind legs kicked out and stabbed into his shoulder and threw him out from under it.

The wolf stood on it's hind legs to avoid Taran's surprise slash and brought his claws back down upon the young boy. But the boy brought up his keyblade and Riku watched as the claws were heated and melted upon impacting the keyblade. Taran swung to force the wolf off of him and left Riku an opening to fire a firaga at the wolf's mouth. Unlike a dark firaga, this attack impacted the jaw and visibly angered the beast if nothing else.

The beast could be hurt. Riku know knew this as he regrouped with Taran. The problem was limiting it's mobility, but Riku didn't know any magic that would be able to do that and Sora was off protecting the keyhole. That left only Taran who...

Was a keyblade apprentice.

"Hey! Do you know any water spells?" Riku yelled to Taran, the young man looked puzzled until he counted off his fingers and quickly nodded.

"Of course!" Taran answered, an air of confidence still thick in his voice despite their predictament, "But what good will that do?"

"Just shut and listen!" Riku was still reeling from the wolf's last strike. Maybe it was because how sharp the claws were or because there was a poison in them, Riku knew that this couldn't drag out, "I'll draw it's attention and it's focused on me, you aim a water spell at its feet as soon as it's about to jump!"

"Fine then," Taran agreed, trying badly to hide his worry, "Don't get killed though."

"Like you? Please." Riku assured the young boy, "I'll take this guy." Nodding, Taran ran off to find a good vantage point up on the nearby ridge while Riku decided to draw out the wolf.

"Come on...I know you want me." Riku called out, watching as the wolf took his challenge. As it stopped moving, Riku took note of the wounds it recieved and saw something that shocked him, "This thing...is that blood?"

"Get ready kid!" Riku yelled as the creature stalked towards him. Normally, a heartless might have looked around in caution, but this thing...  _"Why isn't it responding when I yell? It's eyes are almost...feral."_ He watched the wolf approach, he heard Taran begin a most preculiar chant:

_Dead was the earth when first it formed. In the days before the heavens stormed._

_A cry was chanted and all gave way. The clouds rolled into disarray._

_Thunder boomed and lightning struck. This deed indeed was not of luck._

_Now as then, drop hard from the sky and drown thy foes on the dirt where they lie._

**Verse 43: Rain of Remolding!**

"What the-" Before Riku could say anything more, he jumped back as heavy drops of water struck the sand surrounding him and the wolf heartless. Riku cast a Dark Shield to stave off the heavy drops but the Wolf barked in rage as the water struck its back and the sand beneath its feet. The wolf's heavy weight combined with the moisture which Taran's spell introduced to the sand caused the dirt beneath it to give way and trap the beast up to it's thighs as it struggled.  _"It worked!"_ Riku thought, until he realized that he had sunk up to his knees and found it increasingly difficult to move or pull out of the newly created mud.

"Sorry." Taran apologized as he saw Riku struggle, "I'll levitate you out of the mud!"

"Hurry up!" Riku yelled as he realized his crisis, "It can't jump or run, but it's still walking towards me!" Not only that, but now a floating heartless would be able to attack him as well.

"What's the chant?" Riku heard Taran say, "Ah! Just a moment!"

"I'm going to die." Riku said as the wolf came within three feet of him.

"Forget it!  **Verse 37: Raise up the Secluded!** " Riku felt a force of magic pull him from the mud in time to avoid the wolf's bite and he now found himself levitating above it. "That's better. Now then!" Riku didn't know what Taran was doing, but he liked it. He was now gliding across the beach, stabbing any flying heartless and then vaulting off of them to the next.

"Alright...let's do this." Riku said to himself as he vaulted from heartless to heartless back to the wolf that had now managed to get it's front paws out of the mud pit. Wanting to end it quickly, Riku brought Way to Dawn down across the creature's face and side of it's head. But what happened next, stunned him, "...wha-...what?" Unlike other heartless that went poof and vanished or nobodies that splashed into nothingness, this creature died quite differently.

It's head flew from it's body, splashing blood across Riku's body all along the way.

* * *

**_Depths of Darkness_ **

She didn't know how long she had wandered, but now she stood upon a sheer cliff that overlooked the heartless as they entered the vortex. She had found the sage, who sat upon the cliff and watched as the heartless entered the maelstrom.

"Where are we?" She asked her newly found accomplice. The man looked up at her, he didn't remove his hood, but she could feel a pair of stern but enlightened eyes stare back.

"The Precipice I assume," The sage answered as he turned back to gaze upon the vortex, "My memories have faded, but I feel as though I have seen this gateway before." She looked on wearily as the vortex grew more violent, sending jolts of electricity up it's current as the heartless leapt into it. She assumed that this was how the heartless were entering the realm of light, but it seemed different somehow, she didn't know why, it just did.

"I theorize that there are two gates through which our friends of darkness are entering through." The sage guessed from where he sat, "A gate into the realm of light that intersects with the gateways between worlds and another gate that draws from the darker depths of this realm."

"That place..." Aqua dared not wonder to one of the areas she had explored. What she found there...there were darker things than the heartless in the depths of Darkness, "What are our options?"

"To follow our hearts." The sage answered as he stood up, "What says yours? Mine informs me of a way from the shadow to the dawn."

"Yes..." Aqua said reflexively, "Sora is beyond this path. Which one must we enter?"

"The Darkening Road to Twilight my dear," The sage answered as he walked away from the cliff, "Which itself shall lead to the Merciful Way to the Dawn." Aqua followed after the sage, somehow she knew that this was the way she had to go.

* * *

**_Street past the Park District_ **

Another Heartless was dispelled after Kairi ran her keyblade through it's head, but she kept running. More of them were pursuing her with increasing speed. She didn't understand how, at first it seemed as though most of the heartless were where Sora and Riku were on the island, but these had come from a different pack. She spun to avoid another lunge and slashed through the heartless without losing her own speed. She was naive enough to think that she could fight these creatures on her own...she wasn't like Sora or Riku, it was times like these when she bitterly remembered why they were the ones always saving her.

But her only option right now was to fight, Sora needed her. The lighthouse was getting closer, the keychain on Destiny's Embrace was glowing with greater life. A sense of urgency began to overtake her, as though her very life depended on this feat. Yet she was forced to skid to a stop upon making a shocking discovery.

A pack of heartless neoshadows now crowded the way to the lighthouse and were slowly followed by a large tri-horned heartless which walked on all four of it's limbs. She soon recognized this creature's description to be that of a Behemoth. When she turned to find another way around, she found that there were more heartless surrounding her. This a situation she always dreaded...

But with no other choice, she readied her keyblade and waited for the heartless to come.

A Neoshadow on her side struck first, she brought her blade through it's neck and didn't wait for it to fade. Two more jumped out and tried for her face, she ducked under them and spun around to slash through their exposed backs. This pattern continued for a several moments, it was almost as though they were testing her. Sora told her that shadows usually swarmed their enemies...which meant-

Too late.

Unknown to her, a neoshadow had snuck up and grabbed her legs, pulling her down to impact her chest against the city street. She tried to fight off the heartless as the swarmed over her, but one of them grabbed her wrist and forced her to let go of the keyblade. As she forced onto her back, she couldn't help but shake as one of the neoshadows approached her.

"Sora...I'm sorry." She thought as she prepared for the end.

Then a hand shot through the heartless.

She looked on as the neoshadow dropped to the ground and faded while the rest of them regarded this newcomer. It was probably a person, but Kairi couldn't see anything beyond the darkness that ozzed and covered her savior. Two small silver slits were all that could be seen on the form's face, who regarded the heartless with cold indifference. The newcomer walked over to Kairi and swiped his hand across her. The heartless that weren't destroyed were thrown back into the crowd. Kairi took the opportunity to grab her keyblade and stand back on her feet. The newcomer turned from her and stalked towards where the behemoth stomped it's massive hooves.

As Kairi stood, she now noticed that the heartless were attracted to this figure. As she soon saw, it was like moths to a flame. Several neoshadows leapt for the figure, but it channeled the darkness covering it into an orb which created a current that absorbed the heartless into it. The newcomer then threw the orb into a crowd of incoming neoshadows to clear his path to the Behemoth. Now the heartless were cowering away from the figure, except for a notably more muscular Neoshadow whom Kairi figured to be the leader.

The behemoth charged towards the figure. The figure charged as well, charging another orb of darkness as he did. The figure slammed the orb into the the behemoth's head and jumped over it as darkness swarmed over the creature and ripped it apart. Just as the figure landed, the rest of the neoshadows swarmed him. The newcomer took out several with a quick swipe and a kick, but they crowded over him in a pile.

Kairi stood up, ready to try and help him, but a dark covered hand shot of a neoshadow's back and created a large shockwave that launched all of them into the air. The figure quickly charged another orb of darkness and slammed it into the ground to unleash violent currents of darkness that tore the falling neoshadows apart. More neoshadows and another behemoth appeared, rising up from the dark curtain that now surrounded the city square. But that wasn't what concerned her the most.

A pair of red eyes were gazing out at them.

She couldn't discern what the eyes belonged to, but she felt a chill shiver down her spine as she saw the eyes move through the curtain. The rest of the heartless were staying back, watching her and the newcomer. Kairi looked but saw the newcomer pace back in forth in front of the waiting heartless. By all accounts, it seemed as though it didn't know that the stalker in the dark was watching them.

Now the eyes were gone.

Before could say anything else, she watched as the newcomer was raked across the chest by a large four legged creature shrouded in darkness with the same red eyes she had been weary of. As the newcomer was thrown backwards, the Hunter leapt for Kairi.

"Defend!" She cried as a translucent barrier prevented the Hunter of the Dark from reaching her. The force of the attack still forced her back and seeing those eyes up close made her very soul tremble. Raising up her keyblade, she was surprised when the Hunter leapt over her and faded back into the shroud. There was no mistake, the creature was using the darkness to hide it's movements. She raised herself into a defensive position but realized that with the shroud surrounding her, she could be attacked from any direction.

Then she realized that the newcomer hadn't gotten off the ground and rushed over to him. Just as she had guessed, the Hunter had already leapt after him. Reaching the newcomer at the same time that the Hunter did, she grabbed the newcomer's hand and raised her keyblade to create another barrier. This time, a bolero of light appeared around the field and seemed to burn into the creature's underbelly as it shined. The Hunter howled and hobbled back from the barrier before it jumped back into the shroud.

She didn't know what she did, but the darkness steamed off of the boy starting from the hand she gripped. Once the darkness was gone, she saw that she was holding hands with a young man with barely open silver eyes. Not only that, but a keyblade was hovering over their connected hands.

The same keyblade that she had wielded in her dream.

The boy used his other hand to try and stand while Kairi held his other hand. The boy's skin was very dark while his slim yet athletic build showed since he no shirt. His pants were ragged and torn while his shoes looked caked with dirt and blood. Once he stood, the boy looked past Kairi and all around them to see that the heartless were starting to encroach.

"Glimmer..." The boy stuttered as he released Kairi's hand and gripped the keyblade, "Endure!" She didn't know how, but she and the boy were now spinning around each other in a torrential dance before clashing their weapons against each other to halt their dance. The clash of light and dark caused a maelstrom of white and black to appear and vortex around them before it expanded into a massive wave which cut down most of the heartless. Without guessing as to whether or not they were all gone, the two wielders spun around and slashed to unleash a wide stroke of darkness and light that destroyed the behemoth on Kairi's side and the Neoshadow Alpha on the boy's.

But the Hunter was still there. The curtain of darkness still surrounded the two of them. Despite knowing nothing of this boy, she knew that fighting alone was not an option and stood back to back with him. She could already see a pair of red eyes gleaming at her from the shroud. The Hunter snarled and it's eyes vanished. It was about to attack again. They must of seen the motion at the same time because both wielders were looking in the same direction. Kairi leapt to the side while the boy shuffled around the Hunter's attack. She spotted an opening and stabbed the creature in the side of it's hind leg. The creature howled and turned on Kairi but the boy jumped on it's back and stabbed the neck.

The Hunter rapidly spun, shaking off the two young wielders and sending them onto the pavement which took no sides. Kairi felt her arm jab out of location and held it with clenched teeth as she tried to stand. The Hunter heaved and blew a large fireball from it's mouth towards the princess. The boy jumped in front and stood still. The fireball was not dispelled by his blade, but by another form. A large suit of silver armor adorned with symbols along it's pauldrons and back held out it's gauntlet and caught the ball before it disappeared.

Kairi stood back up, her dislocated arm of little concern due to panic and urgency, and searched around for the creature which vanished after firing it's attack. The boy looked to Kairi and gave her a warning nod. Without question, she cast another barrier that the hunter impacted onto. This time, the armor appeared next to Kairi and grabbed her hand before it flung an orb of light into the creature's face. The attack knocked the Hunter back but the boy only managed to scratch it's claw before it vanished back into the darkness.

The Shroud suddenly took on a strange color and started to spin, rapidly changing colors as it did. The boy appeared next to Kairi, the armor now gone from his side. The creature charged out surrounded by darkness forcing the two young wielders to shuffle and roll to the side to avoid it while the Hunter returned to the shifting shroud. It leapt out again but the wielders managed to avoid the attack. The next time it attacked, the boy stood in place while Kairi rolled out of it's path. The suit of armor reappeared and forced the Hunter's mouth with it's arms.

With the Hunter rooted into place, pointed her keyblade at the Hunter and was surprised when a beam of light surged out and struck the creature in it's side. The creature was forced to the ground where the boy jumped on it and delivered a series of attacks that severed one of the Hunter's front legs. It attacked but it's remaining claw was blocked by the armor, leaving it open when the boy grabbed the creature's jaw and threw it towards Kairi.

She created another barrier and struck it with her keyblade at the same time that the Hunter impacted on it. The bolero of light reappeared and began to rapidly burn against the hunter. Her keyblade shook in her grip as the light and the barrier compacted into a large orb against the Hunter's underbelly and fired the Hunter back into the shroud. Cracks appeared all along the shroud before it vaporized to reveal the rest of the district. The boy whistled as he and Kairi looked towards where the Hunter was fired and saw it.

It's dark exterior now gone, the two saw that it had a dark-purple body with purple spikes running down its back as well as a purple mane around its head, a purple tail, claws, and legs. It's red eyes gleamed with greater malice as a pool of black liquid appeared below it. With a final howl, it dived into the pool while a black mist rose up as the pool faded away.

Legs giving way, Kairi collapsed onto her bottom to try and catch her breath. How was she able to harm that creature so well? Whatever she had done, the very fact that she lived was owed to the stranger who had appeared. She looked to see that he was standing still and looking to the night sky. Who was he? Where did he come from? Whoever and wherever he came from, she owed him her life.

"The stars are nice..." The boy muttered before he fell onto the cold pavement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:
> 
> I honestly have no idea how the time scale in the Realm of Darkness works compared to that of the Light, but I'd suppose that what Aqua felt was a long lightless night filled with everything trying to kill you. As far as clothing damage, I figured that when your trying to fight for your life, you'd be more worried about healing your wounds than repairing your outfit so we get Aqua with conveniently ripped clothing.
> 
> Kairi in a short top and pajama shorts...I'm giving you all a treat which you shouldn't expect for several more chapters so enjoy it or pretend she took the time to put other clothes on despite her world being in mortal peril.
> 
> For the Record: I took three different Mary Sue tests and can confirm that my oc will NOT be a Gary Stu! The reasons for his apparent skill will be explained in a way that justifies it without making Sora and the crew look weak.
> 
> Some might ask why he doesn't have a shirt? Well there's the legit reason and then there's balancing out the fanservice quota. AKA: It's okay to give two females their fanservice moment as long as at least one other male is subjected to it.
> 
> After all, which is more dangerous? Fanboys or fangirls?


	4. Proclaim: The Night has ended

**_Street past the Park District_ **

Kairi gasped and immediately ran over to the boy. She ignored the pain that her dislocated arm gave as she dragged him over onto the grass of a nearby yard. For a moment she studied the boy, he looked to about a year older than Riku and even in sleep bore a disposition of dread. Where did he come from? What caused him to be enshrouded in darkness? When she held his hand, it felt cold yet there was a slight warmth beneath the cold darkness...just as it had when Sora was a heartless.

She spotted a blanket that may have been blown off of a drying wire and ran over to retrieve it. It had a few holes, but it was somewhat thick, so she covered the boy up to his neck. She spotted something in the corner of her eye and summoned her keyblade to attack. She stopped however when her blade was grabbed by the armor that the boy had summoned earlier.

The helmet was mostly silver, except for the white visor, sporting two grey winged prongs on either side of the helmet that extended out and pointed straight up. Its pointed, armored boots were black and silver and its upper arms and thighs also possessed thin supplementary armor with gold edges covering them and the torso was covered by a dull, faded sapphire armor while the rest of the armor was colored in dark shades of silver. Both pauldrons and the torso section were adorned with a symbol that Kairi could've sworn that she had seen somewhere but couldn't remember. Kairi almost felt as though the armor were looking at her as it released Kairi's blade from the grip of it's clawed gauntlets.

"You'll look after him?" She asked, not knowing why she was talking to a suit of armor. She could have sworn that it just gave her the slightest of nods. It then reached down and took the boy's keyblade out of his hand and gripped both of it's gauntlets over the handle.

"I'll be back." Kairi said before she finally turned and ran back towards the lighthouse. She felt horrible for leaving that boy their after he had saved her, but right now...the best way to save him, Sora and everyone else was to find the Door to Light. She knew this yet, she couldn't help but look back after slamming her keyblade through a Darkball. She could still see the glimmer from the armor, the stalwart guardian of it's master.

Finally she found it. It had been on the mainland for decades though it did seem worn towards the top from the last great storm four years ago. The keychain shined even more as she neared it, she knew that she was close. She ran to the back door and bent over to catch her breath, between fighting stray heartless, the battle with the Dark Hunter and running nonstop since leaving home, Kairi's endurance had been pushed to the limit. She looked up and saw that a heart shaped emblem now shined upon the door. In all of the years that mayor had brought her here, she had never seen this emblem.

But now was not the time for questions, now was the time for answers. She stood up, no longer caring for her exhaustion and held Destiny's Embrace before the door. The shaft of the blade now beamed with an intense light that flowed across Kairi's arm and shot straight into the heart. The Emblem blazed with light before it diminished and a great beam of light fired towards the horizon of the Destiny Islands. At once, the world responded to Kairi's action.

"The sea..." She breathed as the sea became like a weaving plain of silver glass. Mesmerized by the sight of the silver sea, she failed to take in that a thin line of light was rearing towards her from the horizon. By the time she realized what was happening, the light had already pierced her chest and dived into her heart...

* * *

**_Child's Island, Secret Place_ **

"Sorry guys, but this is as far as you go." Sora boasted after destroying the last shadow. He had been waiting in the cavern, fighting off the shadows that had appeared to get the keyhole. As he stood, a shadow had managed to sneak behind him and leapt for the door in the back of the cavern. Sora back flipped to intercept the desperate heartless.

"Back off!" Sora cried as he cut through the leaping Shadow. He couldn't help but feel that fighting heartless had only gotten easier even after a year of peace, "Wonder if Rox-" A sharp pain suddenly ran through Sora's head. He stumbled and placed a hand on the cavern wall to maintain his footing but the pain seemed to attempt to numb out all other thoughts. He gritted his teeth when the pain finally ended, "My head! What was I going to say?" Taking a minute to get back his balance, he saw that five neoshadows and two darkballs had stumbled into the cavern. He threw out his free arm as he readied himself but a flash of light and a familiar click brought an interesting discovery to Sora's hand.

A second keyblade.

The black handle was offset from the Keyblade and the dull grey guard was equally misaligned and joined with the shaft of the Keyblade to fully enclose the handle. The blade and teeth of the Keyblade were bronze with a blue rainguard and the teeth of the Keyblade formed the outline of a crown much like Sora's own Kingdom Key. The keychain hanging from the handle was a tan emblem that Sora accepted but could not seem to remember.

"How...how did I-" Sora's question stopped when a Neoshadow swiped across his leg, he brought both keyblades through it's neck in retaliation and then dived through a Darkball, "Wait...it feels...familiar somehow." Sora could feel a familiarity with this keyblade. It was...different from his own but felt close at the same time, as though he used the blade long ago but forgot it. "In any case, two's better than one, right guys?" He didn't give the heartless time to answer, he never did. It felt similar to his Valor Drive from a year ago accept he didn't feel cut off from his magic ability and he felt neither weaker nor stronger as he tore through the party of heartless.

The heartless destroyed, Sora knew that more would be here soon. But he couldn't stay in the cavern so close to the keyhole. Then he remembered that keyblades can lock and unlock things which meant, he should be able to lock entry into the cave. Running to the cave's entrance, he took the second keyblade and cast a Reflect barrier over the entrance, he then embedded the blade into the side of the cave and was surprised when the barrier held up after he walked out of it.

"Just hold down the place until I get back, okay?" Sora asked the keyblade, not caring that it it was a keyblade, it felt like a friend. The blade's keychain gave a glimmer as if in response to Sora's question. "Thanks Ven...wait." Sora dwelt over the name he had just spoken. Ven, one of those who were waiting for him to end his suffering. Ven...he had never met, not even as a child, but...he felt closer to him. "I'll repay the favor soon." With that he turned and ran out of the Secret Place, content that Ven's Keyblade would hold up the barrier until he returned.

He came down to the beach and was surprised when he didn't see any heartless. Maybe he destroyed the ones in this area when they came to the Secret Place? Whatever the case, Sora almost opted to find Riku until a black rift appeared. Sora watched on guard as two thick black hands tore the rift further open and a large creature leapt out. At least Sora figured it to be one, it seemed more like a large glob covered in small black worm locusts that would make any lesser man sick.

"What the?" Sora watched as the swarm of dark locusts leapt off of the form to reveal the heartless beneath, "Some sort of Heartless...Pig with tusks?" As Sora had said, the creature was indeed a four legged heartless with a boar-like form. Despite it's size, Sora wasn't intimidated, "You guys really need to get more original!" The boar bellowed and charged for Sora.

Sora dashed to the side, knowing from previous experiences that taking on a large heartless head on was never smart. He felt light flow through the keyblade as he charged it and threw it into the side of the creature. He jumped up and spun as he caught the returning keyblade and shot off a burst of energy that broke down into smaller projectiles of energy that barraged the heartless. The barrage lessened the locust form enshrouding the boar and caused it stumble into the sand. As soon as Sora felt his feet touch the ground, he surged forward into a Sonic Thrust assault and struck the heartless with multiple thrust charges which the normal eye would not be able to keep up with.

"Big guys like you are always easiest to-" Sora was cut off as he brought his keyblade out of his last thrust and saw something red dripping from the blade, "What the-" Caught off guard, he grunted when the boar headbutted him against a rock and charged in. "Defend!" A shield of particles appeared around Sora that halted the beast's charge. Seeing himself in a corner, Sora aimed his keyblade at an opening. "Freeze!" At once a spray of ice particles embedded themselves into the boar's feet and trapped it from further movement. Normally, Sora would've taken the chance to attack, but instead, he leapt over the creature and watched it.

To Sora's horror, the boar tore off one of it's feet in it's attempt to escape, allowing for a surge of worm-like heartless to pour out of the opening and surged over most of the creature's body.

"They're...coming out of the pig..." Sora observed as the worm-like heartless tore out of the boar's body. A tinge of discomfort shot through his body when he saw some red begin to pour out of the boar's mouth and tears in it's body. He took a second to see the blood that was on his glove, "Wait...if this is...blood...then-" Sora was thrown out of his thoughts when the worm-like heartless jumped towards Sora. He quickly cast a Magnira above them that drew them into the spinning black diamond and followed with a powerful Firaga that incinerated them in the magic flames.

"That pig's...still alive." This wasn't supposed to happen. Heartless are supposed to go for the heart and then create their ranks from the darkness of hearts. But a body indwelt by darkness? The thought of fighting a living being infested with the dark creatures baffled his mind and shook his resolve.

 _ **"No...it is but a shell consumed and stirred by dark manifestations."**_  spoke a voice that Sora hadn't heard since facing the door to his fight with Ansem,  ** _"A creature that refused to submit...as punishment, it's will striped from its body to make it hollow."_**

"Then I-"

 _ **"Do not hesitate, the proud beast would not have this abomination muddle it's pride."**_  The voice continued,  ** _"You must free it from it's torment...that is the burden of your path."_**

Sora took in what the unseen voice had just told him. He couldn't afford to stop now, even if it was hard, the pig was still a heartless within living flesh. It was still a heartless that had to be destroyed.

The boar that was once there was now gone.

Sora watched as the boar bellowed and more worm-like heartless swarmed out of it and covered it and in thick mesh that made it appear as a pocupine. He narrowed his eyes when remembered that the worms were weak to fire. The thick coat was just that, a thick coat and Sora had to cut through it. The monster grew a pair of thin black arms out of the mesh that began to pull the creature forward, increasing it's speed as it neared Sora.

The Keyblade Hero jumped over the monster and cast a surge of fire that orbited around him, burning off several of the worms on the boar. He had a feeling that directly touching the worms was a bad idea though he couldn't pinpoint why. The boar turned and charged for Sora again, this time, several of the worms swarmed out as though to form great fins on the side of the pig. This meant that the back was vulnerable. But first he would have to penetrate those worms.

Focusing, Sora was unfazed as fire began to blaze over his keyblade and legs since they didn't harm him. He got into a running position and watched as the boar came closer. Then he stepped his foot and charged, the fire grew out into a large red bullet that impacted against the swarm and once more incinerated it and even managed to catch the boar on fire.

Its torment would now end. ** _  
_**

"I'm sorry mr. pig." Sora apologized as he ran his keyblade through the boar's side as he swiped past. He heard the sound of blood falling onto the island sand and didn't dare to look back. He felt the ground thud from the creature's fall, and turned when he heard the sound of vapor. A dark cloud rose from the fallen boar and dissipated as soon as it appeared, leaving behind the body of a bleeding boar.

"What...what have I-" Sora choked as tears built up in his eyes. No doubt this once proud boar was free of it's torment, if it was alive at all. But Sora...he couldn't shake the feeling that he had murdered a living thing. Maybe it was because it was the actual body of a former being and not just the warped form of a nobody, maybe it was the blood that the body spilt.

Either way, Sora fell forward and vomited.

* * *

**_Child's Island Seashore_ **

Riku rose his head above the water, taking in the cool nighttime breath. Taran was standing guard on the shore, keeping watch for any heartless who may attack. Fortunately, Riku didn't need much time to wash himself and waded back to shore. He enshrouded himself in a black fire that singed the edge of his jacket but quickly dried him off so that wet hair or clothing wouldn't impede him. He motioned to Taran and the boy followed behind Riku as they made their way towards the Secret Place.

Neither one had really spoken since their encounter with the wolf heartless. The boy didn't seem to have much problem when a slightly shocked and panicked Riku ran for the ocean immediately after the wolf fell silent. As much of a brat as Riku may have thought the kid was, he seemed very understanding with Riku's much needed action. As they came further in land, Riku spotted Sora by the pond, apparently washing off his face.

"Sora!" Riku shouted, his friend stood back up and turned to him.

"Riku!" Sora cried, running over to the two, "I'm glad that you're okay!"

"What did you think? We're not all losers like you..." Riku stopped his tease when he noted Sora's expression. The light of his personality was still there but it was...dimmed and he smelt like he had just thrown up. It didn't take long for Riku to put two and two together, "You too?" Sora quietly nodded, Riku placed a hand on his shoulder to show that he understood. Sora then realized the gravity of what Riku asked him and looked up in shock. Riku did not avert his gaze from Sora, but watched as Sora gripped Riku's hand and slowly took it off his shoulder. Riku's gaze remained stern...their world was still in danger and the heartless could appear at any moment.

Riku wasn't going to watch his home fall again.

"What sorcery were those creatures?" Taran asked, he held a strong face, but Riku saw through it, he knew the boy was just as affected as him and Sora were. Then again, it seemed to render a look of surprise more than remorse, perhaps the boy had seen death on his own world? Riku would have to ask him about his world later.

"They're...the bodies of those lost to the heartless..." Sora slowly explained, looking as if every word he said was sickening him, "What's going on?" Before anyone could answer, Riku smelt that a crowd of heartless had appeared a ways from them and was likely poised to attack anything they found.

"Let's talk about it later," Riku said, summoning Way to Dawn to his hand, he then spotted several heartless heading off and away from the trio and realized where they were going, "They're going towards the shack!"

"Pazu!" Sora ran off towards the Shack with Riku and Taran following close behind. They arrived back to the area where Taran and Riku slew the wolf heartless and saw a large group of hyena-shaped heartless the size of a go-cart tearing apart the cabin. Wasting no time, Sora jumped into the crowd and slashed one into the air while Riku and Taran engaged the split apart group. Sora quickly finished off the heartless and fired a Ragnarok burst that further weakened and divided the creatures.

After that, Riku and Taran spent less than twenty seconds destroying the remaining heartless. But they seemed exhausted, so Sora cast a curaga that replenished all three of them. However, there was no sign of the boy Sora had saved. Just as they were about to assume the worse however, they saw something move in the bushes nearby and readied themselves for an attack. Taran however, leapt right into the bushes to drag out whatever was there.

Instead, he was tackled by a white furry blur.

"Gurgi!" The relieved boys heard a muffled Taran yell before he managed to pry a happy Gurgi off of his head. Gurgi then jumped back and further relieved the boys when he pulled out a still unconscious Pazu.

"Gurgi went to rest in cabin, but dark monsters came and tried to hurt little boy!" Gurgi elated, panting after he let Pazu lie on the sand, "Little boy heavy."

"Of course he is for you, but good work." Taran praised, Gurgi giggled and jumped up and down in a manner that made Sora smile. Riku smirked and was relieved that his friend wasn't going anywhere soon.

"Gurgi always helps his friends!" Gurgi said, spurred by Taran's complement, "And boy was Sora's friend and Riku is Sora's friend and Riku is Taran's friend which made boy Taran's friend!"

"It's always good to look out for friends." Sora agreed, "Right Riku?"

"Look out for you? Nah...find another dork for that." Riku stated, Sora lightly chuckled, knowing all too well of Riku's true feelings. Riku was working on it, but he wasn't a friendship fanatic...at least not on the outside.

Another rift appeared close to the shore and the three drew out their keyblades. Much to Sora's relief, the heartless that came through was neither a pureblood nor a creature possessed by heartless, but was an emblem heartless.

The heartless' seemed very different from even the unusual one's that were just encountered. Its arms covered by two damaged blue gauntlets. It's head was encased in a helmet that is light grey on its right half and grey on its left half, is free to move with an open visor that revealed soulless yellow dots. The helm had jagged, black horns on either side of its helmet. Both of its feet sport black bands with blue highlights on them. Its collar and the grey breastplate were emblazoned with a symbol that Sora and Riku recognized as the emblem of the heartless.

"How long until Kairi finds that door?" Riku asked as the helmed heartless grabbed a lance of dark flame and formed it into a large halberd with an enlarged black blade.

"Scared?" Sora teased as more heartless appeared behind and around the heartless.

"Trouble. Good bye!" Before anyone could ask what he meant, the three wielders saw Gurgi hustle away towards the tree house, dragging an unconscious Pazu behind him.

"Heavy?" Riku remarked as a Darkball rushed towards the trio. Sora cast a reflect that pushed it back allowing Riku to destroy it with a Firaga while Taran slashed through the two Neoshadows that tried to jump Sora.

"Usually I would be upset when he does that," Taran remarked as the Helmed Heartless' support lessened as the trio fought on, "This time, I can make an acceptance. Chant 23: Fasten the Feral!" Suddenly small gray metal pillars appeared above the remaining heartless and something about them prevented the heartless from moving no more than a few steps before they were forced back under the pillars. Which made all the easier for Riku and Sora to destroy while Taran focused and positioned the free pillars above the approaching emblem heartless.

At first it seemed that the small columns would be enough to stop the heartless from moving any further. But the Emblem looked up and swept it's halberd upwards, destroying all of the summoned columns with a single attack. Taran gasped in shock while the older boys shrugged their shoulders and readied themselves. After years of fighting heartless, they knew that some battles would never be easier than they looked to be.

* * *

**_Edge of Night_ **

Kairi now found herself in an odd place. She was looking down to see that the Destiny Islands were far below her as though she walking upon it's sky. But all around and above her...darkness clouded her vision. It wasn't an absence of light either, more of a darkness of substance, a force that managed to maintain itself in spite of the paradox.

She couldn't see in the darkness, but she shivered when she felt a presence. Somewhere in this place, a dark creature was looming over her and her home. She could neither feel nor hear, but she knew it was there, hungry and lustful for the light of her home's heart. It was waiting, waiting for it's minions to open the door that allow it to enter. It had devoured these islands once before, it was the same force that had driven her heart from Kairi.

The darkness swept below her and shrouded all view of the Islands and then she saw it. The outline of a large figure who's form was even blacker than the darkness around her. From what she could make out, the being's large wings had been stretched out as if to encompass a horizon while a pair of menacing yellow eyes stared down upon her.

Naked in the dark, Kairi could feel her balance slip as she realized that there was nothing safeguarding her. No friend, no family, there was nothing between her and the horned behemoth. The eyes narrowed as the head leaned closer to her, the behemoth did not speak...it did not need to. Already she could feel its eyes prowl over her body. What did it want from her? Her heart? Her body?

Then it smiled.

She didn't know how but on an impulse of desperation and fear, she found that her keyblade was embued with a great golden light that started to drive away the obscuration of the darkness. She held it out towards where she sensed the being and was pushed to the unseen floor after firing a mighty burst of bright energy towards it and watched as an explosion revealed her assailant. A large winged pitch black being that had raised an arm to shield the light that gleamed onto it's form. Apparently infuriated, the creature loomed over towards her and stared Kairi down once more.

Suddenly, she screamed as she felt something reach around and grab her arms from behind and pull them over her head. Streams of darkness were emerging from behind her, wrapping around her limbs and body and raising her closer to the being. She struggled as she was brought to the creature's open palm and roughly released.

It was though she stared into the eyes of death...the eyes of the Destroyer. No, it was Death, Destroyer of Worlds and corrupter of all that was good and pure in the Realm which stood opposed to it's own. Now lying on her back, her arms still tied above her, she could only cringe as the creature smoothed it's finger across her chest and down her stomach. It sensed her fear, it was toying with her, attempting to break her spirit by increasing her fear. She knew what it was doing...but there was nothing she could do.

She was helpless yet again.

"A curious creature." She heard a wise voice remark before the creature's finger was halted by a shield of particles, "But it's curiosity I'm afraid...oversteps my standards. Wouldn't you agree Mistress?" The finger seemed to burn and dissipate as it attempted to bring through the shield while Kairi grew more glad but confused.

She heard a familiar click and watched in amazement as a large swarm of light filled bubbles began to rain down on the creature. It brought up it's free hand to block the assault but was stopped when a great blade of light slashed down through the arm and caused it to be cast into the abyss. She saw something fall down behind her and then noticed that the dark bonds that held her had been cut. She sat up on her knees to see the who's who had saved her.

One was a man in a black cloak who's face she could not see. The other, was someone she only vaguely remembered. A woman with shoulder-length blue hair in torn clothes wielding a keyblade.

"I won't be able to hold him for long!" The woman shouted back to Kairi, "Open the door! Drive out the darkness!" The woman turned and fired a blast of light that shot Kairi off of the hand just in time avoid being trapped in the fingers when it closed into a fist. She then saw that she was in a bubble similar to the barrier that had saved her. She watched as more flashes of light erupted on top of the creature while the bubble levitated her down to a spot she did not recognize.

Here, she could see the outline of a small keyhole that had to be the Door to Light. Her keychain glimmered all the more when she landed and the bubble dissipated. Not wishing to waste anytime, she held Destiny's Embrace over the keyhole and focused all of her might into the strength it possessed. A shape resembling a tear drop formed around the keyhole and emitted a great glow that forced Kairi to close her eyes or else be blinded.

When Kairi opened her eyes, she found herself standing upon what looked like the evening sky. In the distance above her was a large keyhole that possessed an ominous darkness pouring out of it while it's outline shined down with a dim luster. There was no sign of the Black figure nor of the two who had saved her, but she had to hurry.

"Release!" Kairi cried as she pointed her keyblade up to the seal and stood unmoving as a beam of light shot into the keyhole and dissapated the darkness. The light grew out from the outline and poured in, then a ray of bright light shined down through the sky and caused all to fade to white.

* * *

**_Child's Island, Seashore_ **

The Helmed Emblem had yet to go down despite the amount of damage it had received. No matter what the trio attempted, it would usually reassemble and replenish itself as more durable. To make matters worse, the heartless was virtually impervious to magic attacks which rendered half of Sora and likely Taran's abilities useless. Riku's dark aura attacks still managed to damage the emblem, but by Riku's own admission, his powers of darkness had only grown weaker due to no longer having access to the Seeker of Darkness' immense darkness. Not that Sora would complain, but this also meant that Riku's darkness powers were more limited.

However, each time it reassembled, it took on more and more of a cracked appearance in it's armor which meant that it could only reassemble so many times. Realizing it's weakness, Sora thrust under the emblem's swing and dove onto the emblem's chest with a magic charged slashed. As he had thought, physical attacks wear down the armor and leave it vulnerable to magic and given that the Emblem didn't account for Sora being able to channel magic into his attacks, this practically nullified it's advantage up close.

It grabbed Sora and threw him onto the sand. Then followed but stabbing it's glaive down towards Sora's chest. Fortunately, Taran intercepted with his keyblade and an energy glow emitted when it clashed with the glaive. The Emblem drove down until the boy's keyblade heated and burned through the blackfire glaive. Sensing it's shock, Riku charged the strongest Dark Firaga he could and fired it into the opening Sora had opened with his attack. The attack violently thrust the heartless into the air and sent it crashing into a nearby ridge.

As the three watched it struggle to get up, they all turned abruptly and watched in amazement as a pillar of light rained down on the horizon and cast the sea into a silver aura.

"My lords..." Taran spoke up as the sea began to grow brighter, "Is it common for the sea to glow as it is?"

"Kairi!" Sora shouted before their attention was drawn to the now standing and cuiress-less heartless, "She found the door!"

"Door?" Riku asked in slight confusion, though he understood enough that this was a good thing, "What about the Keyhole?"

"I'll be right back!" Sora cried as dashed towards the Emblem and kicked it on it's forehead to knock the heartless down then ran for the Secret Place when he landed. The way that heartless was holding itself up, he knew that Riku and Taran would be able to take care of it. He winced as he passed over the still corpse of the boar he had felled earlier and found the cavern's entrance. A dozen shadows had crowded in front of the barrier, cutting into it in desperation. Sora wasted no time and fired a Magnira above them that pulled them up and dispersed them.

**_Child's Island, Secret Place_ **

Sora then passed into the barrier and almost pulled out Ven's keyblade but stopped when he figured that more may appear. Nodding to the blade, Sora came to the door in the Secret Place and saw a large black keyhole that had appeared upon it. Sora raised his keyblade and watched as a thin line shot of his keyblade and struck the keyhole. The Keyhole glowed with a gold splendor before it faded out and the door vanished along with it.

"We did it!" Sora exclaimed, making a mental note to thank Kairi for finding the Door. But as he celebrated, a black rift opened next to the keyhole. "What?" Fearing that another heartless was about to show, Sora jumped through the rift to end the threat before it started.

"Light...someone's calling to me." Sora said as he walked through the blackened abyss that he had stumbled into. Suddenly, he descried two arms reaching out from the darkness, frantically waving for someone to pull them out, "Hold on! I'll help you!" He didn't know who they were, but he grabbed their hands and pulled against the sinking darkness. As he pulled, he gave glance back and realized that something was looming over him. It wasn't a Darkside but a quick judge of the outline told him it was someone far worse.

That giant black creature that guarded the path to Ansem.

What was it doing here so close to the islands? He could've sworn that he destroyed it when he was in Ansem's domain but now here it was, it's wings stretching forth from it's vast form. A head and heartless face that could easily be mistaken for the devil himself. What exactly was this dark lord of despair?

He couldn't believe that he was actually considering leaving these two when he noted the presence of the creature. But he knew that he couldn't leave them, so he continued to pull and found that he was sinking into the darkness as well. The Creature loomed down, arms crossing over it's broad chest and watched it's foes struggle. Sora pulled but while he was now waist deep in the dark miasma, the two hands that he gripped were now barely above the darkness.

As if in answer to his silent plea, two clicks of light sounded behind Sora. He watched as his keyblades, Kingdom Key and the keyblade that had appeared in the Secret Place levitated next to Sora's arms and stabbed into the darkness. Just as he felt the eyes of the creature bear down on him, Sora felt a great force like the light of the sun burn through through his arms and dissipate the darkness. As he gave a final pull, he felt as though he could fly and for all he knew, he was gliding through the light with keyblades levitating beside him, finally diving into the closing opening as all faded to white.

* * *

_**Child's Island, Seashore** _

Riku relinquished Way to Dawn as the Emblem smoked and vanquished. Several more heartless appeared all around him and Taran, but Riku somehow knew that they had already won. The heartless on the other hand, hadn't realized this just yet. Until the sky started to glow white and the heartless reached up as though to bloat out the light that burned and destroyed them.

When the sky returned back to it's original state, the heartless were gone and Riku failed to pick up any trace of their scent. Except for the wolf and a creature similar to it near the trees, but they would be handled in their own due time. As Taran and Riku walked around the beach, Riku sighted a cloaked figure lying near the shore and ran over to it. He kneeled down and gently pulled the figure away from the water and onto the sand. As he did, he caught a glimpse at the figure's face.

"Wait...you're-"

"I'd assume from my comfort and your reaction that we've met not long ago," The cloaked man said as Riku helped him up from the sand, "Unfortunately, I can recall no such meeting." The man took off his hood and Riku was only more shocked. The last time he had seen this face was upon the Castle That Never Was and that was before his death. How was he standing before him every much alive?

"Sir Riku, who is this man?" Taran asked, looking from Riku to the old man.

"He was once...No, he is a wise man and a good friend of the king's," Riku explained in disbelief, remembering the man who had lost everything and was consumed by revenge. Riku still had nightmares about the things he did for the man to help Sora, but the sage repented and died in a vain attempt to destroy Xemnas' kingdom hearts but still somehow restored Riku to his body. Now this man stood on the shore of Destiny Islands, weakened but very much alive. "Ansem the Wise."

"Ansem!" Taran gasped, apparently he had been told about Ansem through someone, maybe his master. Now Riku had a good idea as to who Taran referred to as his master.

"Ansem...yes...that was my name once," The sage said as if a haze was starting to leave him, "And you...are Riku, who also had the name Ansem."

"Thanks to you, my path finally came to the dawn." Riku stated, all things aside, he always regretted never thanking Ansem for everything he did to help him and Sora. As for how he was standing before them, Riku would wait until the sage felt content to answer that for himself. Besides, he had a feeling that the sage had lost his memories in the place where he had came from.

"Then it is an honor, Riku," Ansem stated, managing a curt bow and then slowly surveyed his surroundings, "If you would mind, I'd prefer to lay my back upon a bed rather than more sand. Old age and all..."

* * *

**_Her struggle ended, a benefactor awakens beside her...  
_ **

Kairi awoke to see grass next to her face and realized she was lying in the Park District. She stretched and yawned as she rose and drowsily looked around. At first it seemed as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. She stood up and grabbed her shoulder, the pain now coming full force without adrenaline or drive to push it aside.

But then she saw something beside her. She jumped in fright at first, but calmed down and walked closer to the limp figure. It was a woman, likely a year older than Riku and looked similar to the keyblade wielder who saved her from that monster before she sealed the Door to Dark. She watched as the woman stirred and opened her bright blue eyes and looked straight into Kairi's.

"That girl from..." The woman said as Kairi knelt down to where she lied, the woman ran her hand over Kairi's face as if to closely studied Kairi as if to grasp a straw dangled before her, "Kairi?" Kairi was surprised that the woman knew her name. But then, she felt that she knew this woman...but from a time far away, long ago, but now a single name glowed dimly as an ember in her mind.

"...Aqua?" Kairi said, knowing that she had uttered a name from a distant memory, the woman smiled and happily nodded in confirmation. Suddenly, the woman's voice spoke once more in her mind only that it had come forth from the ember,  _"One day when you're in trouble, the light within you will lead you to the light of another, someone to keep you safe."_ Most of her life before coming to the islands was a complete blur, but somehow she know knew this woman to be Aqua. The keyblade wielder who had saved her when she was a child...who's spell had brought her here to the islands...

Brought her to Sora.

"Where is this place?" Aqua asked, looking as though she believed herself in a dream.

"The Destiny Islands, my home." Kairi answered, "My friends are here too."

"That must be wonderful, to have friends." Aqua stated, a hint of sadness within her eyes. Kairi swallowed, picking up that she had touched on a very sensitive subject for Aqua. She didn't say anything but Aqua must have caught Kairi's concern and said, "I'm alright, you?"

"It's not bad," Kairi said, referring to her dislocated arm. Then her eyes widened when she remembered someone, "What about him?" Aqua brought her gaze around to where Kairi pointed out the young man under a blanket. She was perplexed as to why there was a suit of armor standing over the boy wielding a keyblade but confidently smiled to Kairi.

"I might have enough strength for us all," Aqua answered before she raised her arms and cast a bright aura around them. A slight discomfort came, but Kairi could already feel her arm return to place and the pain fade away...along with the exhaustion she had felt from her recent activities. She also noticed that the boy and Aqua were a bit more lively while the armor faded away into dust of light that formed into a necklace on the boy's neck, "Much better...it feels great to see an actual sky...thank you."

"I didn't really do anything..." Kairi stated, too unsure of what was happening to know for certain of her part, "It was Riku and Sora-"

"Sora!" Aqua cried and then she remembered. The voice from the light that said he would help her, the hand she could not see but could feel grip hers and pull her from that dark place. The one that the wise sage had talked so much about. "Sora..."

"Do you know him?" Kairi curiously asked.

"A long time ago, when he was just a boy," Aqua answered then another sight mesmerized her. The sky was growing brighter, the night was starting to pass. She looked towards the horizon and saw a light glimmer along it's edge, she fell to her knees when she remembered that the glimmer came from the sun. She fell to her knees when a revelation brought joy to her heart.

The Day was coming.

"Aqua?" Aqua turned to Kairi, the child was confused but she seemed to understand. She knelt back down next to Aqua and wrapped her arm around the woman's shoulder and rested her head against Aqua's. Aqua shuddered under the contact, it had been...too long since she was ever embraced. Slowly...cautiously...she dared to return the embrace with both arms.

"This is real." With Kairi's words, Aqua's fears dissipated and she warmly embraced the warmth of air beneath the sky.

"Kairi?" Aqua asked as they broke apart their embrace, "Is there a beach? I would like...to see it."

"Of course." Kairi answered, "But maybe...I should bring you a change of clothes." Kairi's comment caused Aqua to look at herself and giggled as she nodded in agreement. Not that Kairi herself could talk...she had been fighting in pajamas the whole night.

She was just glad Sora wasn't there to see them.

* * *

**_An Outcast cast into Darkness awakens before the morn..._ **

A surge of energy...someone had cast a healing spell on him.

Who? The boy struggled to open his right eye, he caught sight of a few blades of grass, but not just grass, dirt right under it.

He pulled up his head, as he did so, he felt something ripple over his body against the wind. He opened his left eye and looked in the corner of his sight, someone had placed a blanket over him. He sat up and tried to stand and did so with surprising ease. He looked around and found himself in a park with a suburban area of houses across the street. It was unfamiliar territory, but a welcome change of scenery regardless.

He walked over and sat down next to the only other thing out of the ordinary besides him. A young woman about his age with blue hair, clothing that seemed like it had been thrown through a shredder and had a key-shaped weapon lying beside her.

Chances were strong that she was just as new to this place as he was.

"Sleep well?" The young woman asked. To the boy's surprise, the woman seemed more grateful for his company than scared. Most people would jump when a stranger comes up and sits next to them for no reason. Regardless, the boy felt a familiar aura from the woman and managed to put together the dots.

"You healed me." The boy stated while the woman nodded., "Your hand...it reminds of the...spark that awoke me."

"I couldn't let you lie there." The woman replied in a very happy tone, who died and made her rich? "Besides! Life's too precious to let it fade so easily."

"You're in a good mood." The boy observed to which the woman laughed. At first it was a low muffled one but it grew in volume with each breath she took. She wolfed down every instinct to laugh harder and made no attempt to stop. The sight of a woman no older than himself laughing like that brought a dim smile to his own face.

"I'm glad...glad to be alive." The woman explained, tears streaming down her smiling face. "Look! The sun's rising! The stars will fade but...they'll all be back when the moon returns." He followed the woman's gaze just in time to see the first ray of dawn span from the horizon. He saw that ray in all of it's detail, even as others followed it, he focused on that particular ray. He realized something about how the girl saw the coming dawn, it was the gaze of a woman who had been cast in the darkness and had now found the light when she was about to lose all hope.

Just as he had been.

"You too?" The boy studied the girl and saw how his words may have sent her back to an unpleasant phase in her life. If his guess was correct then he wouldn't blame her.

"Twelve...twelve years." The woman answered, all but confirming his theory.

"Twelve?" The boy repeated, as if to himself. He took out his fingers and started counting them off and then exhaled, "That makes eleven for me."

"Lets not dwell on it though," The woman quickly said, "The sunrise has come." Maybe she was right, what good would dwelling do? They were out of that place through circumstances that could not be remembered or comprehended, but they were alive.

"Fair enough." The boy agreed and watched the outline of the sun rise on horizon, "It is beautiful."

"Aqua." The young woman said, "My name is Aqua."

"Thaeon." The boy answered, figuring that politeness should never be demanded, "Shorten it if you want."

"No...it's a lovely name, Thaeon." Aqua complemented and then turned back towards the horizon. The sun now peaked form the edge of this strange world and swept away the remnants of night with it's splendor. He laid back down in the grass and took in all of the increasing temperature of the air, "Warm..."

Thaeon couldn't agree more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:
> 
> Sorry if I made Aqua a little too mello-dramatic or teary-eyed but if so, I figured this would be an acceptable case. The woman was trapped in Chernabog's basement for over ten years...wouldn't you be happy to see daybreak after a month? Even a year?
> 
> As for the OC's name, no he's not an author avatar. I just honestly couldn't think of a better name for him until after this chapter and there is an in-universe explanation that I'll give...eventually.


	5. Skyward: Rest upon a shoulder

_**A Fortress beyond Solitude** _

The man slouched in his throne as he and his allies assembled awaited their latest addition to their humble band. Fortunately, the newcomer's arrival was sensed before the doors to the dimly lit hall opened and revealed the young man garbed in black.

"Honored prince. I was just about to send for you." The man greeted as the young man walked towards the table. "Please take a seat, honored guest." The black hair youth gave the most fleeting of nods and took an empty seat just a little ways down from the leader of the assembly.

All of his allies assembled, the man summoned an orb of light with black thorns swarming into and around it. The orb flashed and enlarged until it began to show images from successful and failed invasions in the past few weeks. Most of the images showed their legions claim world after world and heartless tearing apart the doors to worlds and consuming what lied beyond. Then it shifted to a seemingly insignificant island. Here, their forces were easily fought off and swept aside by a group of young children. Then a flood of light shimmered from the sea and encompassed all of the heartless, causing the orb to shrink down and go silent.

"This was much sooner than anticipated." A lord from a country in rivalry with the Lunar Prince's said once the orb ceased it's function. "Those three seem to always complicate matters, no?"

"Huh! A scrawny boy like him? I bet I could snap him like a twig." One of the more muscular and boasterous of those assembled stated with the confidence of an alpha male.

"This skippy kid's got style, he does everything with class..." Another assemblant complemented while the man's shadow snickered in agreement, "I like that..." The man leaned back in his chair and gave his empty cup to his shadow who slipped away to refill it.

"Unruly child," A pious judge who saw corruption everywhere except within stated, "He almost reminds me of that loathsome masked gypsy. So innocent and playful while harboring such destructive intentions."

"Is that not the visage of the young? To dance and play while others are hung?" A haughty vizier said before he pulled back a leash to keep his pet vulture from eating from his plate, "Fido be still! Obey my will!"

"The Keyblade is a powerful weapon," A horned lord seated on the other end of the table mused after draining his goblet, "Those children will wreck havoc on our plans if we allow them."

"Keyblade..." muttered a large one-eyed lord of a mighty legion as he slouched in a throne formed from his slaves.

"Isn't that why I'm here?" A more polite figure inquired, the man tinkered his glasses and yawned, "You need only to give me that which is my birthright."

"No matter, it appears that we shall have to delay our plans for the Destiny Islands," The leader of those assembled said without worry or care. Perhaps he shot too far and too soon by attempting to root out the Keyblade child and his companions. But this but one of many plans the man could take and he was a patient a man. "Gather your fellows, the time has come to no longer hide our actions."

"Xemnas." Hearing a name he once held, the man turned to find one of his servants standing next to his throne. A young man with blue hair and an x-shaped scar etched across his forehead.

"What is it Saix?" The man inquired, "We were in the middle of a discussion."

"Forgive the intrusion," the man referred to as Saix apologized with a curt bow, "But we have a situation."

* * *

**_Destiny Sea_ **

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Riku asked his elder passenger as he rowed across the thankfully passive ocean. Sora was rowing just behind him carrying the still unconscious boy while at his own insistance, Taran rowed in a spare boat with his friend several feet behind Sora. It wasn't usually a long trip and already he could see the main island on the horizon but he was in truth concerned for Ansem's condition since he just came out of the realm of darkness from the sound of it.

"I assure you that the open sea is a far more soothing sight then the backdrop of the abyss." Ansem stated, still looking out to the vast span of the ocean, "Especially now that the sky lost it's dreadful overcast." Though that didn't mean that the constant rocking wasn't bothering him, Riku was content that the old man found peace from this ocean.

"Should we slow down for ya?" Riku heard Sora cry back to Taran who Riku guessed wasn't as multi-skilled as the boy let on.

"No thank you Sir! It's my first time doing this." Taran assured despite the rocky balance of his boat.

"Don't they have an ocean on your world?" Sora asked which Riku decided to slow down to listen.

"Well...it's very far so I don't go often." Taran answered while Gurgi kept trying to snatch fish out of the water. "I did go to this water world with my master though! Alright...I didn't actually go in the water but I was on our ship for days until my master returned from speaking to King Triton..."

"King Triton?...Atlantica?" Sora excitedly cried, he must have had fond memories of that world. "How's Ariel and the others?"

"You knew the king's daughter?" Taran asked before he was kicked into his boat by a subtle wave that pushed up the boat's front, "Forgive me...I need to focus more than I assumed."

"Don't worry about it...I actually fell in my first time." Sora assured the boy while he caught up to Riku who was chuckling from that particular incident, "Got something to say wise guy?"

"Nah...I'll just laugh at you from up here." Riku teased, Sora shook his head with a smile, but he noticed something about his eyes that always told him something, "How do you feel?"

"What do you mean?" Riku gave a knowing look that was all it took for Sora to drop the act. "Fine...I just...I never thought they'd ever come back here." Sora said, "I mean...the first time around, they destroyed everything Riku. I thought that after the worlds were safe, somehow I thought they'd never come back here."

"Then they show up out of the blue and the heels of destroying another world too." Riku guessed correctly, "It's not like we weren't planning on leaving." Riku looked back over to see that Sora was rowing even less energetically, "You're worried that they'll come back."

Riku knew his friend's fears because they were his fears. It was his own cockiness and pride that got their home destroyed two years back. Even after it's restoration, it took months after his return home to truly forgive himself for the past. For Sora, it was a shoot-off of survivor's guilt, Sora still felt guilty about not being able to do anything the first time. Maybe that was why he was so motivated to keep up his skills in the past year.

"After the worlds were restored that was supposed to be the end of the heartless invasion," Sora said, "We sealed off the door to darkness and opened the door to light...but what if they still come back?"

"We've sealed the keyholes, they won't be able to destroy our home again." Riku assured his friend, "Sides, we've gotta have something to do once this is over right?"

* * *

_**Main Island** _

She went over the events again and again but still couldn't understand what had happened. She was now leaning over her dresser looking at herself in the mirror. There was no denying that everything that had happened was real...but somehow, she still expected her reflection to show someone else telling her to wake up. But she knew it wouldn't happen. Heartless had actually attacked their home...she had fought them and sealed the door to dark and awoke to find two keyblade wielders lying on the ground while she was now at home finding clothes to replace their torn attires.

Then again, should she really be shocked?

Thankfully, the mayor had slept through the whole attack and seemed to have assumed that Kairi came down from her room. In fact, no body else in town seemed to know why various buildings, stretches of pavement or roads were found mysteriously damaged. Maybe She, Riku and Sora diverted their attention towards them with their keyblades. It was probably for the best that nobody knew the truth for now...it could bring back memories from the first time.

She breathed out the carbon monoxide along with any doubt that what had happened had was indeed real. She opened her eyes but jumped when a sinister pair of amber yellow eyes stared back at her from the same face that had haunted her dreams for weeks. She fell back and brought out her keyblade only to see that the face was gone.

Was that really Xehanort? No...he was gone, turned into a heartless and nobody that Sora and Riku had destroyed. Besides, what reason would have to come after her if he was still alive.

Oh yeah...her heart can open the door to kingdom hearts.

Deciding that dwelling on this wasn't going to help, she walked out of her room fresh from a quick shower and now wearing a denim mini skirt with a light red zip up jacket over a short white tank top and purple sandles. She went down the steps and quickly wrote a note to her absent father that she would be out with Sora and Riku.

To most, having your sixteen year old daughter out with two boys around the same age capable of overpower her with little to no effort would probably be a scary thought. That is until the girl relayed to the man that these two had gone through hell and back for her and one actually died to save her multiple times. Given that he knew that she was not from around here and that those two were rather odd, he opted to trust his daughter until the boys gave reason for otherwise.

It should be noted that dying for his daughter tends to earn a father's trust.

Afraid that she was taking too long, she ran out the house and found Aqua and the boy at the same spot she had left them still looking at the sun. As much as she hated to, she drew their attention to the clothes she had brought them. Aqua smiled and grabbed the clothes meant for her and a torrent of light surrounded her. When it was gone, Aqua's torn outfit was replaced with a loose fitting long sleeved button up shirt with a dark tank top underneath and an elegant blue cloth over her knee length shorts. Her torn stockings were gone, but the armored boots she wore had lost their damage and worn appearance, making it appear as though they were just like new.

"These are nice, thank you." Aqua said as Kairi also handed her a comb. Aqua's hair was amazingly beautiful, but a quick comb through never hurt anyone. Aqua smiled and accepted it.

The boy's pile of clothes seemed to burn when he touched them...but a torrent of gray flashed up and was gone as soon as it had come. The boy now wore a short sleeved shirt with a silver pauldron over his right shoulder bearing the same emblem as the suit of armor had. His shoes were now clean and appeared to have small armor platting on the side of them.

"Thanks." The boy said as he threw several swift punches into thin air with his right arm and cracked his knuckles and neck while extend the left to Kairi, "Thaeon."

"Kairi." Kairi replied as she took Thaeon's allowing him to lightly shake hands.

"You also helped me out of a mess." Thaeon continued to which Kairi was now starting to fidget.

"You saved me...so I guess we're even." She replied, not sure if she deserved to be thanked by anyone for the whim of uncertainty.

"Maybe." Thaeon said as if he were thinking of something, "I still owe you one."

"Twelve years...eleven years..." Kairi said to herself as she led the two newcomers through the streets she had called home, "At least their suffering has finally ended."

"Is this...another world?" Thaeon asked, looking around at the buildings as they walked towards the beach, "Seems a bit small, but...that's not a bad thing."

"It's still part of one that's much bigger right?" Kairi stated as if on reflex. Maybe it was because she had heard Sora and Riku say it so many times but it felt like a natural response.

"Has your life been...happy?" Kairi was honestly perplexed and confued by Aqua's question but didn't truly mind. However, Aqua nervously giggled before she could respond, "Excuse my manners! A grown woman demanding so much without giving the same."

"Don't worry about it." Kairi said to calm the older woman. "But...that time you saved me...why were you there?"

"It's coming back to me now..." Aqua spoke up, as if a spark had gone off in her mind, "I was looking for a friend...you see..."

* * *

_**Main Island, Seashore** _

"It can't be far..." Taran said to himself as he searched the sandy beach. "I know it's somewhere on this beach!"

"Can't you sense when your close to it?" Riku inquired as Ansem walked along behind him and Riku. At his own insistance, the elder sage carried the boy upon his shoulder which wasn't a problem since the boy was actually surprisingly light for some reason, almost as if he was floating.

"I...I actually borrowed it from my master," Taran admitted with a tinge of regret. The two boys could tell that he truly respected his teacher for him to be worked up like this, "He'd know how to track it or summon it, but...I never thought I'd be in this mess."

"No prob, we'll find it eventually." Sora assured the youth when it seemed like he had given up the search.

"I hope so, my master won't be happy if I don't return it." Taran fearfully said.

"He couldn't be that bad-" Gurgi's blank and frightened look was all it took for Sora to correct his statement, "Sounds like a tough teacher." This teacher demanded respect for a reason.

"Not without reason, to wield the keyblade requires great responsibility after all," Taran proudly stated, "And I intend to prove that I was chosen wisely."

"Your call," Riku said, "Just don't take after this guy as a role model."

"Remember Hallow Bastion?" Sora said. Riku stopped in his tracks and seemed to look down in the sand. For a moment, Sora looked as though he may have hurt Riku. But Riku looked back up with a devious smirk and placed his hand over his heart.

"Yeah...I don't need the keyblade, my friends are my power." Riku recited with a mock imitation of Sora's voice while Sora listened with a mock frown, "Yet he knows he wouldn't have been as confident if he didn't get the keyblade right then and there." That was a lie and they both knew it, but they had grown to the point of being to laugh at what had been the greatest rift in their friendship at the time.

"Just admit it Riku," Sora playfully boasted, "I'm just cooler than you for once."

"The two of you are a very odd duo." Taran said as Riku and Sora carried on while Ansem observed them with an air of amusement.

* * *

_**Main Island, Main Beach** _

Finally making to the beach, Kairi was still absorbing what Aqua had related to her. Though it seemed that her time in the darkness had fogged her memory, she told enough to boggle the mind of the young princess of heart. It wasn't mere coincidence that had brought her to Radiant Garden when she saved Kairi, but she was no less thankful.

Thaeon was a strange matter altogether. Kairi connected the dots herself and realized that he must have been in the Realm of Darkness as well though his means of escape would have been more threatening if she hadn't been there. Right now, he was walking into the low tide and apparently examing the water and put a finger in his mouth to taste it.

"Salty...but," The boy grimaced as he swallowed and looked as though he were trying not to choke, "Just as nasty as the ice cream."

"Ice cream?" Kairi inquired while Aqua sat down upon the sand and seemed to bask in the naval breaze.

"Back at home...a lot of my friends and co-workers had a thing for Sea salt flavored ice cream." Thaeon explained with a look of annoyance.

"Sea salt ice cream?" Aqua said when she stood up from the beach, "Wait..." It's as though a string in her memories had been seen but she was still inching her way towards the answer.

"You don't like it?" Kairi said, shocked since gave her the impression that the flavor was popular throughout the worlds.

"No. I always thought that actual sea salt would taste better than that rubbish." Thaeon reminenced, "But I was wrong...it's worse."

"Did they buy it from a duck named Scrooge?" Aqua inquired as though she was just reminded of something.

"In fact...yeah...I remember now." Thaeon remembered, a smirk coming across his face as if to recall a pleasant echo of the past, "I liked his shop, but how the heck did Sea Salt ever catch on?

"From what my friend told me, it's pretty popular in the worlds." Kairi answered, remembering when Sora told her about eating the ice cream in Twilight Town. She had tried some herself, but while she liked it, it certainly was an acquired taste for most, "It's practically the best flavor here too. I personally like daiquri ice more...but sea salt is very sweet too."

"Ice cream...that sounds so great right now." Aqua said happily and then started muttering to herself about what flavor was her favorite from the sound of it. But she eventually gave up in playful frustration, "Oh whatever! I don't remember what flavor was my favorite...I'll try both.

"Now daiquri ice...I can do." Thaeon said though his enthusiasm grew dim when looked like he realized something, "Just won't be the same as back at home."

"Ah...where is home for you two?" Kairi was truly curious, from what she could figure...they had been trapped in the Realm of Darkness for a long time. How did they end up there? Where were they from? These were too great of questions to keep contained. Despite however rude she may have seemed, neither of the keyblade wielders seemed to mind her question...though she could tell that the memory of home also brought along it darker memories as well.

"A castle...lost in oblivion." Aqua answered...though something in her voice told her that she wasn't completely sure of what she stated.

"Radiant Garden...until..." Thaeon's face trailed off while Kairi remembered when Leon told her about their world after Sora saved her from Hollow Bastion. Evidently, the destruction was so terrible that everyone actually forgot it's name for a time and referred to the world as the castle's name, "I never saw it happen...but the pieces fell into that place...I couldn't stay there."

"Leon's world. Then we'll find a way there!" Kairi assured Thaeon, "It was restored...when my friend saved the worlds."

"So it was Sora." Aqua said aloud and then turned to see that a group was coming towards them, "Is that him?"

"The one with the brown spiky hair?" Thaeon asked pointing to the boy with the same description waving at Kairi, "He stands out pretty well." Kairi caught their glance and excitedly waved back before charging towards Sora and Riku. Sora, in the meantime, followed the gesture and tackled his friend in a tight embrace.

"You were great." Sora told his princess, "I couldn't have done it without you." She smiled happily and squeezed him tighter.

From afar, Aqua watched the scene unfold with joy. It reminded her of something out of a fairy tale with the beautiful princess embracing her beloved triumphant hero before walking to their happily ever after. She only hoped that there's would come much sooner than reality usually allows.

"Sweet hearts...they look so cute together." Aqua observed while Kairi and Sora held each other. Sora's other companions looked surprised but elected to give the two their space while Sora's silver haired companion just walked past them without a second glance.

"Too cute...but it is a nice scene." Thaeon said as he observed two through a box he formed with his thumbs and index fingers, "Anyone have a camera?"

"Here ya go." Riku answered, tossing the camera to Thaeon without looking. He approached the blue haired woman with caution but also curiosity. "You must be...Aqua."

"...Riku..." Aqua said...remembering Riku from when he was a small boy, "You...were the one Terra chose." Riku looked bothered for a moment, he looked off towards another larger island in the distance and exhaled slowly.

"...Yeah...took me awhile...to earn it." Riku admitted, remembering that he didn't always possess the qualities worthy of a keyblade wielder, "We were just about to go look for you guys. How did you end up here?"

"I don't know...something about them." Aqua admitted while motioning towards Kairi and Sora who were running back towards the group.

"Tobias." Ansem said to Thaeon as he approached the others, Aqua observed that what Ansem called Thaeon didn't sound like something he liked to be called. Ansem himself caught Thaeon's reaction but continued with a different observation, "So that is your name."

"I prefer Thaeon...the boy you refer to is gone." Thaeon bluntly stated, Aqua could tell that maybe Tobias was the boy's true name but for some reason, he chose to abandon that name along with whatever sentiment it may have held.

"Forgive me...my memories have slowly flooded to my mind and...I merely spoke the first name that came to mind when I saw your face." Ansem confessed apolegetically, "But if Thaeon is your preferred title, then that shall be your name."

"Thank you, Ansem." Thaeon said with a respectful bow.

"You know my name." Ansem said with mild surprise.

"He's from Radiant Garden, Wise Ansem." Aqua cleared up for the elder while Thaeon looked from her back to Ansem who had the appearance of trying to connect to identical strings but not being sure how to put them together as one.

"Has Lord Ansem lost his memory?" Taran asked with both curiosity and concern.

"Whatever caused him to fall to darkness...it wiped his memory save for a few points." Aqua answered before she realized who she had spoken to. Her gaze went wide when she noticed the crescant moon token on the neck of his jacket, "Young man...that emblem on your collar..."

"Forgive me madame, I am Taran of Caer Dalben." Taran began to answer but seemed to have caught Riku's hint to cut his introduction short, "And priviledged apprentice of the Keyblade Magi."

"Magi? Then you know Yen Sid?" Aqua inquired when another spark went off in her mind.

"Why of course! He was the one who trained my master." Taran answered, completely affirming Riku's guess on who the boy's teacher was.

"Then that means-" Riku's statement was cut off when the boy Ansem was carrying started to shake and then yawned as if to awake from a resting nap. The elder gently placed the boy on his feet and did not let go until he saw the boy balance on his own two legs.

"Little boy woke up! Now he can be Gurgi's friend!" Gurgi cried as he jumped towards the still misty eyed boy.

"Ah!" The boy cried as he jumped from the creature's surprise, he fell and crawled back from the still excited creature but calmed down when gave a good luck at the little furry creature. He stood up and started fiddling with one of the hairs on Gurgi's head before the creature swat at him for him to stop. "Wha...Where am I?"

"You're safe...remember me...Pazu?" Sora cautiously asked.

"Sora...you saved me..." Pazu stated as though he had heard the name in a haze.

"You sleep but Gurgi save you too!" Gurgi pointed out with a pout while Sora shrugged a shoulder in agreement.

"Well...guess I owe both of ya." Pazu said and then looked around at the group eyeing him with curiousity. "Sorry...my name's Pazu-" he grimaced in pain when something in his ankle siezed up and caused him to fall on the island sand.

"Let me take a look..." Aqua offered when she bent down to the boy and placed her hand above the boy's ankle. A small bubble appeared from her palm and gently rested on his foot, sheathing it in a blue glowing aura before she took away her hand and the job was done, "Nothing rest and a bit of magic can't heal."

"What was...oh magic." There was a glint that Sora missed in the boy's eye. Most people would have been shocked about having magic used to heal you but it almost seemed commonplace to the boy. "Thank you..."

"Aqua." Aqua said while the boy bashingly rubbed the back of his head.

"Pazu..." The boy greeted when he pulled himself together and stood up with Aqua. The boy wobbled back and would have fallen if Thaeon and Sora hadn't caught him.

"Riku...how far is your parent's summer house?" Sora asked while he helped the boy stay on his feet.

"Not to far...but it's not exactly summer yet..." Riku said but one look from Sora's face was enough for him to cut the act, "K, just follow me."

* * *

_**Main Island, Reshir Summer Estate** _

So Riku led the group to a house at the base of a hill and gave a short and dull history of the place the undercut it's appearance. Despite his own admission of not being there as often, the house was well dusted likely by people hired by Riku's parents.

He didn't keep the fact that his parents were amongst the richest in the islands a secret to Sora or Kairi. Though it would'nt make any difference to them, he did confide of always being afraid of finding true friends when everyone knew who his family was. But that fear was put to rest when he met Sora and Kairi a year later...allowing him to more comfortably seek his own identity.

"This hall is amazing, Sir Riku." Taran complemented before scowling at Gurgi for gobbling down a whole cluster vine of grapes.

"Nope...my parent's just didn't know what to do with it so they gave it to me." "They were in a phase of trying to dissuade me from going to the island...but it didn't work."

"To everyone's misfortune since." Sora muttered while Kairi giggled at his antic.

"Like you're a blessing from the sky." Riku chided, "Whose won every race and contest between us?"

"Oh yeah!" And so the two of them launched into a juvenile argument which ranged from who had the best toned body to who had the longest and sharpest keyblade. If anyone were paying attention, one would've noticed both Kairi and Aqua exchange amused looks, Taran asking Gurgi if his keyblade looked sharp, Thaeon reteaching Ansem the calm game of Poker and Pazu exploring the house unconcerned for the two.

"That's just how they are." Kairi told a concerned Aqua as the scrabble continued, "Brothers...but they really do care for each other." Aqua was set at ease and watched Sora act like he was pouting and walk away from Riku while the silver haired boy put his arms behind his head and sat down in a chair.

"I'm sure they do." Aqua agreed when she sensed the bond between the two of them. This was no real argument but a play fight to poke fun at each other. Just like Aqua and her friends used to do.

"This is a nice house." Pazu complemented when he rejoined the others, "If you don't want you...I wouldn't mind calling it home."

"So what is home usually like?" Sora asked not even sure why he had blurted out the question. Riku gave his friend a questioning look with Taran giving a face of obvious disapproval while Aqua, Kairi and the others were surprised to find out that the boy was from another world. Pazu however gave a toothy smile and sat down on a window bench.

"I live...lived in a cabin on the hills." Pazu began, he smiled as he picked up a toy airplane and focused on it, "Well...there's lots and lots of hills in my world. Mine's next to the mines where I worked."

"You work in a mine?" Aqua spoke up in shock, "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Think that's bad? Try going out to sea at his age." Riku said while Sora and Kairi nodded in agreement, "Fun...but not smart."

"I didn't work all the time. My boss let me off for spring and summer and I went to the Wind Valley most of the time." Pazu continued, "That's where I met Sheeta. She lived on a farm just outside the wind valley so she and I would go there together. They have large wind mills that blow the wind from the ocean through the valley so it's always never too cool or hot. It also keeps away the toxins emitted from the cities so the vegetables and water stays good enough to eat."

"We'd go and help Miss Nausicaa with the plants she grew in her home. She's a nice lady and very pretty. She's a princess but she still helps people and treats everyone the same. She and the wolf princess don't get along for some reason, but the wolf lady doesn't like most people except Ashitaka...but that's because she loves him so he doesn't really count...she doesn't let the wolves eat Yakul so she probably likes him too."

"There's different places for everyone to live." Pazu said "There's the Wind Valley, the forest, the iron towns, and the bathhouse. The forest...we didn't go there as much. Most of the animals were nice to us but some of them...they tried to kill me a few times." The boy chuckled but Aqua, Ansem and Kairi gasped at how lightly he seemed to talk about it, "Mononoke's really tough and what's not scary about her holding a knife to your throat. But maybe she warmed up to me or Sheeta cause one time I was in the forest well and got bit by a snake that tried to attack Sheeta. Mononoke drove off the snake and she actually sucked the poison out so I wouldn't die."

As odd as that last detail was, Sora could already picture a fierce Kairi garbed in wolf's fur threatening him after treating a wounded fawn. It reminded him somewhat of Kerchak from Deep Jungle and King Triton from Atlantica, kind to his clan and family but menacing to those who they thought would've threatened them.

"Last time I went to the forest though, I was with Ashitaka. He's a cool warrior from a clan in the mountains but everyone either likes him or their really scared of him. I heard he could shoot the arms off of gunmen and could bend steel like a twig!" Pazu exciteldy related, Ashitaka was obviously someone he looked up to, "But he was also nice to us, he even Sheeta and me look after Yakul while he went on a journey with the old man who talks a lot with Nausicaa. He also came to get me out of the bathhouse and most demons there were scared of him!"

"There's only one bathhouse in your whole world?" Taran asked as if he'd just caught that there was a bathehouse.

"It's not for everyone...it's for spirits." Pazu corrected, "It's run by a big greedy old witch with a scary face and a lot of powerful magic. Chihero says she's just tough on the outside but a mother can't be all that bad. One time, Sheeta got really sick after accidently stepping on a mud cricket so I had to work there for a whole month to pay off the cost for the medicine."

The girls seemed to look more worried until Pazu gave a confident smirk, "It wasn't really long though, it turns out that a day there is a month everywhere else so I only worked for a whole day." Pazu laughed aloud and Sora couldn't help but join in. Even Riku had to smirk, beating tricksters at their own game was always amusing.

"Wind Vallies...a forest wolves and other creatures love to try and kill you...working in a spirit bath..." Thaeon said as he let the whole thing sink in his mind, "Your folks must've had a hayday with you a few times." Everyone would have kept laughing except Sora pointed out when Pazu stopped and a single tear started to build up in his eye.

"My father died when I was little." Pazu quietly said, but when he saw Thaeon about to apologize, he waved an arm and replied, "Don't worry! I still miss him...but I've gotta keep moving to the sky...just like he did. He was the one who told me about other worlds." Pazu seemed happy when he noted the satchel that Ansem was carrying. The old man was all to happy to return it to him who barely contained himself as he took the pack and then dashed to a table and started going through the pack.

"He always wanted to be able to fly to the edge of the sky...he spent his whole life for that dream." Pazu elated as he searched through his pack, "And he got it! See?" He pulled out a pile of photoes and placed them on the table for everyone to see.

"Amazing...he actually found a way to travel beyond his world's barrier..." Aqua said with amazement as she and the others looked through the photoes, true to Aqua's words, some of these colorless but well shot photoes depicted the star filled space that separated the worlds. Though it appeared that the boy's father never made it far beyond his world to actually visit another one, the photoes depicted the outlines of worlds adjacent to his. "These are really great pictures, Pazu." The boy toothily nodded in agreement.

A couple of pictures especially caught Sora's eye and he held them towards Pazu asking, "What are these?" The boy ran over and looked from one picture to the other. Both of them depicted towers piercing through the clouds. Pazu gasped in excitement and went to the pile of other unsorted pictures.

"The castle in the Sky! Laputa!" Pazu shouted with newfound excitement when he pulled out a picture from the pile and set it down for all to see, "On one of his trips, dad was stuck in a huge storm. He said that while he was hanging on for dear life, he saw a castle amidst the clouds." Sure enough, the colorless picture depicted just that, a castle obscured by clouds.

"But his airship was damaged by that storm he flew through and would have died." Pazu said "Until a man in golden armor riding a great sky chariot saved him!" Pazu pulled out another pair of pictures, one depicted a faraway figure riding an object that could not descerned. In the other, an armored figure was waving back while riding an ornate glider towards the sky.

Aqua picked up the latter picture and sat down to study it as though she might have recognized the rider.

"No one believed him..." Pazu reminencsed, he looked as though it hurt to remember, "Except for that old man who's always traveling around but...they called him crazy. The proof was right here...about laputa...the chariot above the clouds...that our world was just part of a bigger one..." Sora gave a glance to a sad Kairi and a stern Riku before turning back, "Sheeta always liked stories about Laputa and of other worlds...her grandma used to tell them to her when she was little...just like my dad told me about the worlds the golden warrior told him about."

"I always wanted so badly to get my own airship and fly through the sky...laputa was up there and I wanted to find it." Pazu said, the determination he brought to his face for a moment reminded Sora of Riku's own goal two years earlier. "Maybe in Laputa, we could find a way to cross into other worlds...then I'd come back and show everyone that dad wasn't lying. Sheeta was always scared when I talked about going to Laputa but..." Pazu's face grew more subdued and sad, "I promised to look after her...so...maybe she could have gone...maybe Dola and the pirates too! Course we'd have to tell em that there's treasure in other worlds or they wouldn't take the risk..."

"Then the sun died...the wind stopped...it got really dark...I promised her I wouldn't let go but..." It was as if he didn't want to keep talking, the memory was all too near to him. But Sora knew...the boy couldn't stop...not even if he wanted to, "I wasn't strong enough...She was pulled right out of my arms...Everything...I couldn't do anything but watch her fall away..." The scene was already in Sora's eyes...Kairi weakly calling out his name before the darkness took her from right out of his reach and rushed him out into the mercy of the destruction.

"I wake up...the sun's shining, there's a beach...and I'm with people...other people" Tears were starting to form in the boy's eyes, Sora knew it was only a matter of time before it truly sunk in. It would be painful, but Pazu needed this. If he allowed to stay inside, it would only fester and decay him from the inside.

"And here I am...sitting in a house on another world." A single tear had escaped as he started to choke, "It's really pretty...I always hoped other worlds would be..."

"Pazu." When Kairi said his name, the boy, big heavy tears were already forming and dropping from the boy's eyes.

"Haku...Chihero...Nausicaa...the old man...Ashitaka and Yakul...wolf lady...Dola and the others...Sheeta..." His head was bowed, shoulders shaking as he starting heaving in breaths as rivers streamed from his eyes, "I really hope...they all made it to a pretty world too." He finally released a loud wail and fell to his knees crying.

The boy's wail echoed through the house and through the hearts of all present. Sora looked as if he didn't what to say or what to do but was desperate to do something. He looked to everyone present, Riku had his arms over his chest was looking out away from the scene; Kairi was wiping the tears from her eyes; Aqua's tears were silently falling down her face; Taran and Gurgi looked to each other with remorse and guilt; Thaeon shifted from his observation to press his necklace against his lips, Ansem's fists tightened as though seeing the boy's pain caused a similar memory to surface.

"But...I can't just cry! They're still out there! I've...I've gotta find them." The boy managed through his immensely thick tears and heavily lifting himself up to stand, "But how will I do that? How...How will I-" He was left unable to say anything when he felt a pair of arms with spiking brown hair wrap around him and kneel down so that his cheek was against the boy's chest.

"Sometimes everyone needs a minute to cry." Sora whispered to the crying child, "But I promise...I'll help you find your friends."

"Really?" Pazu asked to which a tearful Kairi ran over and placed her arms around Sora and Pazu and knelt down with Sora.

"That's what we've been doing for the past two years." Riku joined in, placing a hand on Pazu's left shoulder, "We're not gold warriors, but putting things back to normal's something we specialize in.

"Speak for yourselves! A mighty warrior never turns his back on those in need." Taran boasted before placing his hand on the back of Pazu's right shoulder.

"Pazu is Gurgi's friend...so Gurgi will help his friend find his friends and then we can all be friends!" Gurgi said as he wrapped his arms around Pazu's waist in an embrace.

"I've been away for a long time." Aqua admitted, "But I know your pain, Pazu. You'll have my hand as well." She set on a knee and embraced Sora and the now weeping Pazu.

"I don't know you and you sure as heck don't know me." Thaeon said, sitting down in front of Pazu and placing two joined fingers on his forehead, "But I'm a nice guy...too nice to say otherwise if I didn't want to help. I do...and I will help you."

"I cannot help but feel that this was somehow my fault." Ansem stated as he walked up to the group and put a hand on Pazu's head.

"Ansem...this wasn't-"

"But I know that this is not the case, so that thought died as soon as it was born." Ansem corrected though his face still showed a great deal of remorse, "When I regain myself fully, my aid will not be withheld."

Three friends, a boy and his friend, a keyblade master, an enigma and the old sage stayed as they were for at least an hour, holding the child as he quietly cried for his lost world. In some form or another, they all knew part of or all of what he had gone through and wanted nothing more than to help him through this time in his life.

For most, a band of mostly coincidence like this would be very odd to give such comfort to a boy they just met. But this was not an ordinary band, all had faced peril in form or another and all were somehow or another at the mercy of the whims of fate. Furthermore, they were united in the single purpose of supporting this boy, in their hearts, that was enough reason to join together as they did.

"Thank you everyone!" Pazu said, returning hugs to those who gave one and giving a confident smirk through his lingering sorrow, "So when do we leave?" A great roar sounded in the room which stunned all inside...until they realized that it had come from Pazu's stomach.

"First young man...you as well as I require food and rest." Ansem stated as a lower grumble was heard from everyone else's stomach, "No strength can be gained on an empty stomach." Come to think of it, it seemed as though no one had eaten since yesturday night so a meal would not be out of the question.

"Work in sunlight's enough for me." Thaeon declared before sitting up and going to Riku, "Where's the kitchen?"

"Ah...it's just down the hall next to the door to the basement-"

"Paladin." At his word, a suit of armor appeared and formed behind Thaeon to everyone but Aqua and Kairi's surprise, "Be back soon." With that he confidently stepped towards the kitchen with the Paladin following close behind...leaving the others to almost dread what this stranger had in store for them.

An hour later, that dread was replaced with satisfied stomachs and moods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:
> 
> Well, I feel horrible now...that little segment actually brought water to my eyes. I didn't actually cry but...if I were any less evil...I'd probably wouldn't be able to finish it.
> 
> So to cheer myself up I give you...
> 
> A chance to a sneak peak at what's upcoming in the story! Correctly guess all of the villains mentioned in the first section and you'll be im'd a hint at possible future occurances and a chance to personally request which world our heroes should go to in the future!
> 
> Okay I feel better now....never mind...still crying...


	6. Shrouded: Gather the Pieces

**_Within the Sky_ **

One sky...

One sky above all, one sky to watch them, one sky to connect them and one day unite them.

For now it gazed over an island world where the keys of fate had gathered. Two from a long and lonesome exile within of the depths of darkness where it seldom went. One had come upon the tail of a star, a fellow from a land of fair folk. One had been brought from the threat of darkness and had been brought here for sanctuary. The last two were native to this island, one was eager but had been balanced by experience while the other...the sky knew him very well.

The sky turned it's gaze towards the sea, where a force of haste caused it to rush over the tides to a landscape filled with rough mountains and vallies. As it moved, the sky heard the cries and screams of countless people and felt their pain as though it were present there. For it was as if they all cried out at once, but silenced by a terrible plague of death. Finally, the sky ceased to move, looking down upon a land stained crimson.

At one point, this world was a beautiful paradise fitting for a land of slumber. It was an especial world for when many in other worlds slept, they actually came here to this world where the thoughts and hopes of their heart would become manifest. Castles, fields, rivers, oceans, the land was seemingly as endless as the imagination of the minds who found their way to this place. The youth perhaps remembered coming here at one point himself, whether or not his dreams were his own were a thought he pushed to the back of his mind.

Now, the skies were crimson red with black clouds and the absence of the sun. The many rivers and oceans were either emptied or colored red while castles and fields were stripped bare to serve the needs of the victors. Instead of birds of welcome, birds of prey now flew overhead preparing to feast on the many who had fallen. A great army now stood upon the land, they had come with the silence and darkness, a race of black demons hellbent upon conquering and destroying all in their path until they found that which they had strove their whole life to take.

The dark barbarians had already crowded upon their fallen foe, celebrating their victory despite the fact that this world only put up a measely defense. The youth watched as their leader stood atop the heap of the fallen, ranting and shouting of their conquest. The barbarian horde was a great force to behold, with far too many blades to count and a massive war-machine primed to aid them in every situation imaginable though it served as little more than a forward command post in this world.

"I SHALL NAWWWW THE GOLDEENNN CITYY TOOO THE BONE!" Their leader declared as he took a large bite out of a ham leg he held, "AND I SHALL SPIT IT OUTTT!" The youth shook his head as the Mighty Barbarian spat the chewed up meat onto the fallen. In another part of the field, survivors were gathered into small crowds and forced into large air-vessels guarded by armored soldiers of a distant empire.

The youth noticed that families were being kept apart. Children were forced into one crowd, younger adults and teens were forced into another while the adults were herded into another ship while the wounded, sick or elderly were kept in a group that would not be boarding the vessels. He took note of the soldiers sharpening their swords and aiming their rifles before he walked away from the carnage as all became obscured by darkness.

The darkness faded to show the hooded youth standing on a beach, the tide of the ocean was calm but dark as the night. The moon glowed red as if to reflect the pain that so many now felt on that night. The youth looked from the calm tide and turned to see another figure in alike attire except with a petite feminine form sitting on a fallen log a few feet away..

"There's no looking back from here." The figure said to his partner, the other merely got up and stepped to his side, "Ready?" As they started to walk towards the shore, darkness obscured the youth's partner along with the entire beach. Nothing could be seen but the first figure, walking alone as though he were upon the very planes of oblivion.

The darkness faded, revealing the city where the hooded figure now stood, surrounded on all sides by thousands of enemies. Heartless, Tall dark imposing barbarians, armored troops with swords, lances, guns, and many different weapons, and other creatures with blank black eyes. The figure continued to walk as though he didn't see them. It was raining in that city squre but none gave it any heed or care. As several of the troops raised their guns while others readied their magic, the figure continued to walk as darkness once more obscured his environment.

As the darkness faded once more, the figure drew out his weapons, two keyblades one white and the other black and held them steadily as he stepped towards the enemy as they prepared for battle in another district of the rain drenched city. Gunfire erupted but an unseen barrier prevented the bullets from touching him as he charged. He leapt over the formation of heartless, cleaving through the few that jumped up after him and landed amidst a platoon of gunmen. He slashed in a circular sweave to fell the armored soldiers and a black and white halo burst from his blades to slice through the others before they could avenge their comrades.

Blood stained the streets and his keyblades, but the figure threw one out as a boomerang that cut through many of the advancing troopers and caught it in time to plant his other blade into the street to send a powerful gray shockwave through the area. The figure stood up and looked to see that the barbarians had enclosed upon him with their many bladed spears and he crouched down in preparation for their attack.

The challenger wore a full suit of plate mail with a horned helmet and a long black cape with the symbol of his Empire in red on the back. The figure watched as the challenger drew two swords, one of which was considerably longer than the other as opposed to the hooded youth who's keyblades were about equal in length. But the figure looked to see that the armored knight wasn't his only challenger.

He saw that his pursuing enemy had many leaders including a tall sinister trickster wearing a dark maroon undertaker tailcoat and black pants, white spats over black shoes, a purple vest under his coat that doesn't entirely cover his midriff, and a red cummerbund with a top hat with a purple feather in it and a skull and crossbones on it with a shadow that independently mocked the hooded youth; A horned being with a frightfully chilling presence garbed in a great red robe that trailed behind him; A proud tall and muscular huntsman whose appearance would make most other men and women blush but make his enemies feel insignificant in comparison; and an elderly judge dressed in black robes flanked by his own moderately armed group of guards.

The youth hopped back and then allowed his keyblades to levitated around him as he floated into midair, a symbol appeared below him as his keyblades continued to spin while a great number of glowing light orbs formed around him.

Just as the youth's orbs began to rapidly rotate around him and create a blinding flash of light, Sora opened his eyes. He was staring at the ceiling of Riku's room, sleeping on the floor while Pazu and Taran snored on the bed next to him and Riku somehow slept uninterrupted.

He exhaled as his mind wandered on what he just saw. Who was that hooded boy? He seemed so strange and yet...Sora felt that he knew him somehow, but thinking about how that could be flared a headache. It was almost like when he discovered his second keyblade...did this have to do with Ven? Was the figure Ven escaping whatever was tormenting him? And even then...did he truly see another world fall to darkness? Who were those dark men?

"Maybe Aqua will know something." Despite his self-assurance, confusion only flooded further into Sora's mind as he went back to sleep.

* * *

**_A face lacking a name, but remembered_ **

Riku rubbed his eyes and found himself on a small island in the middle of an ocean. This wouldn't concern him except that Riku didn't recognize this island, it was too plain and showed no sign of any wildlife. Furthermore, he could see many and many diverse cities all around him on the horizon. He grinned when he saw the irony of this dream's scene, of what he onced viewed his world as.

"To have broken from the prison...only to return and restrain your freedom." Riku had heard this whisper before, but never gain would he listen to it. He didn't bother trying to hear where it came from, after all, it would reveal itself in time. "Did you not seek to cross into other worlds?" A wave rose up and crashed upon half of the small island, leaving a black shadow that did not resceed with the tide.

"It has been awhile since we last spoke...Riku." Riku could recognize that voice even if he were deaf, the chills it still awoke in his spine could only be pointed to one person, "Now freed from the walls of Oblivion, we may converse as we once did." Riku watched as his tormentor of all old, the Seeker who had pulled him down into darkness appeared from the shadows, arms crossed with the aura of his pride no less strong than the darkness that formed him.

"I thought we already had this discussion." Riku stated, "You're not coming back in. End of story."

"Don't worry, you already served your purpose." Ansem mused dismissively, "And I can see that our union has made you stronger."

"Also helps that I destroyed you and the real Ansem mopped up the rest." Riku shot back, not allowing the Seeker a single-foothold into his mind, "So much for the power of darkness." Deep down, Riku knew of the consequences and power of the darkness, but he had also beaten it and balanced it so that it would not control him. Light and Darkness exist in balance, he knew this all too well, this figment of Xehanort's Heartless was nothing more than a ghost of his doubt made manifest by recent events and his fight with the heartless.

"To have seen so much and still you understand nothing." Ansem said, unaffected by Riku's dismissal. Riku couldn't be happier to remind him of why.

"You really are a broken record." Riku had already summoned Way to the Dawn and lunged forward. He increased his speed until he was nothing more than a blurred dart to any observer and appeared behind the Seeker of Darkness half a second after a lightning fast slash. Riku didn't bother looking back as he felt the Seeker vaporize, his eyes were still looking towards the ground. Still trying to comprehend how Ansem was still here despite the impossibility. "What?"

"It is true...I am no longer in a physical state." Ansem stated as he emerged from Riku's shadow and fully reformed himself. "But I will never fade into oblivion, as long as a shadow remains in the hearts of men, I shall always be there."

"So...you were the one who sent the heartless to the Islands." Riku accused, now knowing that this was not just a figment of his own doubt, "You destroyed Pazu's world."

"Pazu? Darkness holds sway over so much that an insignificant detail such as a single world is of little concern." Riku's eyes narrowed at how little the Seeker cared but wasn't surprised at the same time. "As for the heartless...they followed your shadow." Riku looked down and saw that his shadow and grown out to cover the island, hundreds of small pairs of yellow eyes looked out from it as Riku readied Way to Dawn to attack any heartless that would appear.

"Darkness is more than that which consumes light, it is also that which lies within and forms the shadows created by light." The Seeker explained, the waves becoming erringly calm as he spoke, "The stronger a light grows, the greater the shadow becomes." At least two dozen neoshadows appeared from out of the enlarged shadow and leapt for Riku. Fortunately, he was able to make short work of them but saw that more pairs of eyes appeared as soon as they were gone. Ansem was the one summoning them, as long as he stood their proudly, they would keep coming and overwhelm him.

"You claim to stand above the darkness, unaware of the taint that lies within your very blood-"

"That's it!" Riku had heard enough from this man and dashed in for a finishing stab. Ansem created a dark orb that expanded in front of him but instead of an attack, the darkness formed into something else that made Riku halt his attack. A girl with long blond hair wearing a ripped white lace dress. "Her?" Shocked, Riku jumped back and suddenly found it difficult to focus. He had seen this girl before but...her name...he knew it and yet he could neither say it or think of it. Too late he realized his error when he saw the Seeker grin.

The Seeker found an open door.

"You still remember her? Such a naughty girl." Riku cringed as Ansem caressed the girl's neck as he held her close to him, "Naughty girls must be punished." Before Riku could do anything else, Ansem's grip on the girl's neck instantly tightened until he heard a slow sickining crack. Time increased as Ansem allowed the girl to fall forward limply, Riku dashed ahead, just inches from keeping her from hitting the ground...

"NO!" Riku shot up and stopped just an inch from bumping his head into the ceiling of his room. He calmed his erratic breathing and looked see that he was still in his room. Sora was sleeping on the floor while Taran and Pazu noisely snored beneath him and he could Thaeon snoring as he sleept on the living room couch. "Just a dream. Or was it?" He lied back onto his bed and pondered everything he had seen, Ansem, what he had said, and that girl who he stabbed.

What did it all mean?

Sora had told him about the dreams he had about destiny, darkness, shadows and foreboding...all of which he had a few days before that fateful night when the islands were destroyed. This was the first real dream that he actually remembered, apart from the dreams he had in Castle Oblivion or while he was trapped in the form of Xehanort's heartless.

"Sora should've warned me about this...that the keyblade can make a dream real without actually being real." If any of what he saw was real, did that mean that Ansem, the Seeker had returned? No, he was destroyed by both him and Sora and extinguished by Ansem's machine. Perhaps it was only produced by a deep seated fear that he had repressed until now. Either way, it would all have to wait until morning. Maybe he could talk to Sora or Aqua about the dreams.

* * *

**_Fear and Memory Awoken_ **

Kairi didn't know how she had come to this place, but the city of radiant light was not an unwelcome sight for the princess. It felt so familiar...was this her original home from when she was a child? Even the clothes she wore, a white apron-like shirt with blue flowers and a blue line across the chest, a pink skirt with a white line on it felt familiar on her. Every curious step felt soft and welcoming, as if the very paved floor had missed her feet.

"Kairi..." She heard an old gentle voice call, she had heard it before. It was an echo that beaconed her to come to it and she obeyed the desire of her heart. She ran in the direction of the call and found herself in what was likely the city's town square. There was no one in the square except for a small, elderly woman with thick, grey hair tied into a bun. She was softly smiling pleasantly with almost closed eyes that Kairi could see were blue like her's. She wore a sleeveless, purple dress with a white apron overtop it and a dark cloth tied around her neck with a white ring on her left ring finger.

"Grandma?" It came from an ember, but Kairi believed it and saw the woman smile and open her arms. Kairi felt a single tear fall down her face as she ran towards the woman with her own arms open...as if to recieve a lost piece of her own heart.

"Kairi, it's so good to have you home." Kairi's grandmother said, recieving the hug that her long lost child gave her. She didn't know why, but Kairi felt like laughing, she could only remember being this happy very few times in her life. Ever since Sora had mentioned her grandmother in Traverse Town's cove, she had struggled to recall so much as a voice or a face but now...she was embracing her and her warmth filled Kairi with joy, "Come come, our friends are waiting for us."

"Yes Grandma!" Kairi released her grandmother and held her hand as they walked through the garden. Yes, Radiant Garden, where she had lived as a little girl. A smile was on her face as she looked at all of the happy people waving at her. Of course she couldn't remember any of them but she was happy to see them nonetheless. As she followed her grandmother, she noticed three boys play near a pond, one had sky blue hair, slightly longer than jaw-length that spiked upward in the back who watched the sky in thought; another had a widow's peak, rather small eyebrows and thick, shoulder-length, bright red hair styled into slicked-back spikes with bright emerald color green eyes who was playing with flame shaped frisbees and the last, who sat and played a sitar, had dirty-blond hair in an odd mullet-like style with several individual bangs that fell over his face.

The latter two waved at Kairi when they saw her past by while the first nodded. Kairi noticed a slight chill run through her when the blue haired boy nodded but it was overcome by the increased warmth from the other boys. Maybe they were playmates when she was a child...though she couldn't help but find the red hair and blue hair familiar for some reason. She was pulled from her thoughts when Kairi's grandmother stopped and the two were standing in front of a simple two story house.

"You first child, all of our friends are so eager to see you after all these years." Kairi smiled and opened the door. As soon as she looked inside, she saw someone sitting in a lounge chair twirling a half full wine glass.

The warmth in her body was instantly drained.

"Yes...it has been a long time princess." Kairi gasped when she saw the confident smirk of Ansem's traitorous apprentice, Xehanort. She was unable to breath as she looked and saw that her grandmother was no longer beside her, "Whom do you look for?"

"Grandma!" Kairi cried out, but looked out to find that only darkness lied in place of the town she had walked through and she could not see or hear her grandmother. She would've ran out but the door closed on her when she turned back inside. She had a feeling that trying to open it would lead nowhere.

"Don't bother, she cannot hear you where she is." Xehanort drained the rest of his glass without taking his eyes off of the princess leaned against the closed door in fear, "But enough, I would like us to sit and-" Kairi screamed as she fired a ball of light at the man and watched the light enshroud him. But it soon faded to reveal Xehanort unharmed and Kairi started to step back. She couldn't even see when Xehanort had come close enough to grab her neck, but her whole form shivered and seemed to beg to be released.

"It's very rude..." Xehanort said, a thumb caressing along Kairi's neck as he held her in the air, "To interrupt an adult who is speaking." He placed her onto the floor and swept his hand under her chin as he released his grip, "Especially since we owe so much to each other." Those damned hands...it was just his hand but...she felt so...violated just now. As though anything he touched would soon wither and die, but an old fear awoke inside of her veins that caused her to tremble.

He had...touched her before.

"WHY SHOULD I! AND WHERE IS MY GRANDMA! WHERE AM-" She was somehow compeled to silence when she saw Xehanort's finger raised next to his face. She wanted to continue, but perhaps it was an old habit from childhood, she just couldn't bring to mind whatever it was she wanted to say.

"Don't. Interrupt your elders, girl." Xehanort rebuked with his finger level to Kairi's fearful face, "You're light is as strong as when you were a child...The shadow has grown just as great."

"What is-" She gasped as the blackness of her shadow swept up and swelled over her, clamping down just up to her ribcage, "No! NO! PLEASE STOP!" She could it stream up along her body, invade into pores, she felt as though it were breaching into her very being and turning it inside out.

"The heart may be able to stand against darkness...but what of the mind? The soul? The body?" Xehanort questioned the girl as she wimpered under the interogative touch of the shadow, "In the end, they too are but carbon based objects to be consumed and entrenched by darkness. Even your's."

"Fear...Doubt...Sorrow...Angrish...Grief...All of these feed the shadows of every light and in doing so, beacon the darkness as it has for your island." Xehanort continued, watching as the girl fell back against the wall as her own eyes seemed to pale.

"In the end, the light's own fear of the dark will empower the shadow and corrupt the essence of the light." In a last act of desperation, she grabbed the dark form with both hands, trying desperately to keep it from consuming her as it flowed up her neck and into her open mouth. Suddenly, she felt the glimmer within her being and reached for it, the glimmer heard her and her keyblade came to her hands in a blaze of light. When the light was gone, the shadow had receded and she was on her knees, her keyblade limply held in her right hand, "Impressive...your body succumbed, your mind yielded, but why did your soul defy?" She no strength left, if she did, she would've struck down the apprentice where he stood.

"We are done for tonight. But wait, you wished to see your grandmother didn't you?" Kairi's eyes widened at the mention of her grandmother, Xehanort smiled as she looked up to him as if pleading to see her, "Or rather, what happened to her when you were a child." The princess followed Xehanort's hand to where her grandmother sat as if in a daze. Gladness swept over the girl as she sat up and ran over to her beloved grandmother. She looked down for only a moment, to see that the shadow had streamed along the wall and vanished into the shadow of the chair.

A blackened claw wrenched out of her grandmother's chest as she reached her.

* * *

_**Mayor's House, Destiny Islands** _

"Kairi." Aqua opened her eyes and immediately dashed for Kairi's room. There she found Kairi quickly shake on her bed with paled eyes and a screaming mouth that emitted no sound. This was more than a nightmare, "Esuna!" She placed her hand on Kairi's chest and watched as a glowing light green essence covered her body before it vanished in a brief second. Kairi's eyes gleamed with light again and she slowly stood up and grabbed Aqua with a soft but frightened hug.

"Is everything alright?" Ansem had just arrived and apparently the effort exhausted him, "A nightmare?"

"More than that." Aqua realized when she set the young girl up, "Kairi? What happened?"

"Kairi?" Kairi's parent asked when he came to the scene and cautiously looked from Ansem to Aqua to his apparently frightened daughter, "What's going on?" He seemed polite, but Aqua knew that he suspected something from her and Ansem. Kairi had insisted on letting Ansem and Aqua stay at her home since Riku's summer home would be filled, but they were allowed in under the condition that nothing would happen to Kairi. Evidently, this man was not the mayor of his world without reason.

"It's alright Daddy...I had...bad dream." Kairi said with a brave voice but to Aqua it sounded more akin to a small child who had just seen a monster in their closet, "Miss Aqua and Sr. Lee were just here to make sure I was alright." Something about the cover name for Ansem samed very appropriate for the older sage, but the Mayor seemed to visibly and subtlely calm down.

"Okay! Here I was about to smash in a bandit." The mayor said in mild relief, "Do you want a glass of water?"

"No...but thank you," Kairi kept smiling while her father nodded and left the room. The smile faded as soon as he was gone, "He...He killed her...my grandma..." Aqua remembered an older lady whom little Kairi had called her grandmother, but now regretted her curiosity as to her absence. Something had happened after she left.

"Who?" Ansem inquired softly, "Who killed her child?"

"Xe...Xehanort." Aqua's eyes focused as she listened to Kairi, "He wouldn't...he wouldn't let go...I tried to fight bu...but...he-" Aqua could feel the distress the girl was in, perhaps she had allowed it happen. There was so much about the past twelve years that she did not know but...she knew Xehanort had hurt this child...just like he had hurt her, Terra...and Ventus.

"It's alright Kairi. He can't hurt you, it was just a bad dream." Aqua assured the girl in her arms, Ansem walked in and caressed her hair as the princess sobbed in the Keyblade Master's chest.

"Should we notify Sora and the others?" Ansem asked, Aqua could fell Kairi shake her head. Brave girl, she didn't want to burden her friends. But this couldn't stay just to her, she would need to surround herself with friends who could help her. Yesturday, when they vowed to help Pazu, they had also forged the same silent bond amongst themselves, she felt it as soon as it was forged. Just as she still felt the bond between herself, Terra, Ventus and their master, even as the latter is no more and the distance between her and her friends could span beyond the horizon.

"We'll wait until morning." Aqua could feel the girl begin to shake off the aftereffects of this episode and start to fall asleep. "Right now we need rest. We can't let fear rob us of sleep"

"Then I shall retire, do not hesitate to awaken me if anything else occurs." Ansem stated before he went back to his own room. Aqua sat up and decided to do the same after wishing Kairi a good night but was stopped when she felt a strong grip on her wrist. She turned to see a calm but somehow, wearied Kairi looking down as if ashamed.

"Can I...sleep with you?" For most, having a sixteen year old ask if she can sleep with you can lead to unsettling conclusions. But to Aqua, she saw only a young woman who didn't want to be alone. The look in her eyes told a sad tale, as if she had found something she had lost and then saw torn from her arms.

"Of course. But it's going to be tight, the guest bed is kind of small for two." Aqua led the smiling girl by the hand to the guest room and tucked her in on comfortable impulse before going back to sleep herself.

* * *

**Main Island, Seashore**

It might have been seven but eight in the morning as Riku watched the sun rise in his shorts and a t-shirt. Even though his desire to "escape" had been quelled by the mistakes and consequences he had made, he still wondered if all of the worlds had the same sky...the same sun...were they under different time rules, where time passed quicker in one world than another or night in one world meant day in another? These were questions he never had time to focus on during his travels.

"Either my recipe wasn't that great or you had a rough night." Riku turned to see Thaeon standing next to him, "Think half of us did but won't admit it."

"Or maybe I just like to jog in the morning." Riku said with a smirk, "You?"

"Best sleep I've had in years...I don't think I even dreamed." Thaeon recalled, though something told Riku that he hadn't entirely not dreamed, "If you don't want to talk about it to a guy you just met then alright, but don't keep it to yourself. It's not healthy."

"I was gonna tell the whole group...just waiting until we're all awake." Riku said.

"Good. Friends are pretty handy when your own hands aren't enough." Thaeon admitted, and then started stretching his arms and legs, "I feel like having more than a simple jog, how far is this beach?"

"It goes a long way...good for endurance once you've gone up and down a few dozen times." Riku stated, "I suppose a race wouldn't hurt now would it?"

"Go easy on me then, I haven't raced in years." Thaeon stated when he stopped stretching and fell into a runner's starting stance.

"Please...I was in for a few minutes myself," Riku pointed out, remembering the time he was in the Realm of Darkness before coming to Castle Oblivion, "You should be a track star from all the running you probably had to do."

"Let's find out." With that the two young men dashed across the beach. Riku had a homefield advantage but Thaeon managed to keep on his heels while the sun kept rising. The two of them raced back and forth on the beach with Riku edging out by one bout though it was only by great effort. Thaeon wasn't quite as fast as Riku or used to running in sand, but had a strong amount of endurance to where he outpaced Riku in a few races and then unchained himself at the end of the length. Riku couldn't help but notice that Thaeon always seemed to run more lightly when he did.

"Not that it matters, but you can use gravity spells?" Riku saw Thaeon's face shift into what he caught on to be false denial that quickly changed into a small grin.

"You caught on," Thaeon stated as he sat on the sand, "Yeah...I got ticked with the sand so I gave my feet some bounce.

"Pardon?"

"Bounce. Just like you said, I used a gravity spell to lightly push my feet off the ground on each step so the sand wouldn't slow me down as much." Thaeon explained while massaging his foot, "That and increasing my speed when I went all out...didn't do much for the soreness though..."

"All that and I still beat you? Doesn't seem right somehow." Riku said pretending to feel bad and then summoned Way to Dawn to lean on it, "Mind showing me what else you can do?"

"I aim to please." Thaeon said as he sat back up and summoned what Riku guessed to be his own keyblade, "Let's keep it light though, no maiming or horrible injuries."

"Sounds fair." Riku didn't intend for an all out fight, he was satisfied from yesturday's ordeal. But he dwelt on a latent thought that Taran, Aqua and Thaeon were the only trained keyblade wielders other than himself, Mickey and Sora that he had seen since he was a child. He wanted to test himself, not for power, but to gauge himself. Judging from his opponant's focus and subtle eagerity, Riku figured the man needed to cross blades with something other than a heartless so this session would be of mutual benefit.

* * *

_**Main Island, Reshir Summer Estate** _

It hadn't taken long for Aqua to find the Summer Estate, she had an intuite direction this world. She chuckled remembering how this supposed direction would turn off and on during her travels twelve years ago. It always like to take Aqua on paths it believed she should be traveling instead of the one's she had set for herself.

For better or worse, she was glad she had it.

Kairi was still asleep when Aqua had left the estate while Ansem had gone out to explore the island and promised to find the Estate. Apparently, amnesia did little to snuff the curiosity inherent within the scientific sage. As for Aqua, she was just glad for everyone gathered on this world. By coincidence or chance, they had all been brought here together for a purpose. Maybe comforting a young boy who's world had just been destroyed wasn't one of them, but it did not matter, they had done it and were somehow...drawn to each as a result.

"My lady," Taran politely greeted when he opened the door for her, "Pleasure to have you grace us." Aqua found it funny that the boy was so chivalrous, it almost reminded him of Terra when he was Taran's age. She just hoped that he wouldn't have the same fate. While he nodded and went outside to apparently practice with his keyblade, Aqua continued inside and smelt someone cooking. It smelt much more simple than the entree that Thaeon had made yesturday but it still smelt inviting.

"Sora." Aqua sat herself down across from the relaxed brunnette when she saw him, "Sleep well?"

"Never don't," Sora said though she noted that his sleep last night wasn't quite as restful as he asserted, "You ma'am?"

"Just Aqua and...yes, best I've had for a long time." Aqua slightly shuddered to recall those sleepless hours in the Realm of Darkness where even a five minute nap invited an unpleasant death, "I have you to thank for that...Sora."

"Couldn't have done it without Riku or Kairi." Aqua admired that he still held true to the bonds of his friends, "Besides...why not?" That was when Pazu walked into the living room and placed a plate in front of Sora and Aqua filled with eggs,

"Enjoy!" Pazu said while Sora starting eating away at his plate while Aqua ate at a slower pace. She couldn't imagine herself doing this twelve years ago but she couldn't help tasting every bite of this above average breakfast. She tried very hard to use this taste to forget the unspeakables that she had been forced to survive on in the Realm of Darkness.

"Breakfast at Riku's expense!" Sora cheered after devouring his last bite while Aqua was only halfway through her's. She found it charmingly nice that Pazu was preparing plates for everyone else and slightly chuckled to herself when she caught Sora's words and realized that a small feud might emerge.

Boys.

Ventus and Terra...were exactly the same. Her mind suddenly flashed back to the conversation about Pazu's world and to something that Pazu's father had encountered on the edge of his world.

"Pazu...could I...see your father's photos again?" Aqua asked carefully, aware of the shadow that still followed the young boy despite his brave demeanor and face.

"Of course." Pazu brought out the satchel from yesturday and carefully pulled out the photoes. "Just put em back when your done." Though he was light about it, Sora and Aqua both knew what these pictures meant to the boy. Mementos of a father now passed...treasured memories from a world that he had seen destroyed.

"This is..." Sora focused on the picture of the armored knight riding a glider. The structure of the knight's gold armor sparked a memory in the young keyblade wielder.  _"You are not the one I chose..."_ Yep, the resemblance could be seen by Sora even if the picture was black and white.

"You've seen this person before?" Aqua asked while the memory started to return to Sora. A knight in armor kneeling down, accusing him of being Xehanort and viciously attacking him.

"Yeah...he attacked me." Sora was still uneasy about recalling the armored knight he fought a year ago. The knight's skills and power were such that Sora dreaded what would happen if the knight had wanted a full fight to the finish. Still, he knew that it wasn't personal, "Don't worry, he just thought I was Xehanort."

"Xehanort?" Sora could tell that Aqua likely knew Xehanort just from her face, "He's still..."

"You knew him?" Sora asked, sensing somehow that the name was a sensitive subject for Aqua.

"Someone say something about Xehanort?" Sora turned to see that a tired Riku and Thaeon had just returned from a very vigourous jog and perhaps more since Sora could notice several brushes on the two of them.

"...I know that name." Ansem stated as if a memory was starting to come to his mind, "I don't know how but it's utterance fills my heart...with rage." Aqua couldn't help but sense a strong amount of tension build in the room. Pazu, Ansem, and for some reason, Thaeon all seemed to excude strong amounts of tension.

"He's gone." Sora said, thankfully deflecting the tension in the room, "I don't know what happened in Radiant Garden but Xehanort...lost his heart to darkness and became a heartless and a nobody."

"Sora took care of the heartless two years ago." Riku affirmed, but Sora noticed a small change in Riku's demeanor when he mentioned the heartless, did something happen to him last night as well? "And we all teamed up to take down the nobody, so Xehanort's gone." But even as Riku spoke, Sora couldn't help but feel like he missed something. He wasn't lying, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas of Organization XIII had been defeated by him and Riku but...

"Kairi?" Sora stood up when the young girl walked in and sat down next to him. Aqua noted her appearance, sensing that her nightmare had left a more lingering impact than previously seen.

"I didn't sleep to well, I'm fine though." Kairi assured Sora though both and most of the people in the room weren't too convinced.

"If we are to know whom we face...it would be best to pool all of our knowledge together." Ansem stated to those gathered, "I assume that you were a past aquitance of Xehanort?"

"He's the one who threw me into that nightmare." Thaeon with a tone that barely failed to mask a great amount of anger, apparently he had been forced into the realm of darkness while Aqua had...in a way...chosen her fate. It did nothing to lessen the dread of the horrors she encountered but, it gave her a sense of relation to whatever anger this boy felt. Whatever happened, Xehanort was the root of it.

"I'm...I'm not sure..." Aqua started in response to Ansem's question after Sora and Riku explained their encounters, "I sensed Xehanort's presence within my friend...but it was different. The Xehanort I knew was an old friend of my master's and a keyblade master of darkness-"

"Keyblade master?" Thaeon sat back and let out a loud laugh, "Then it is true."

"Xehanort?" Everyone turned to see that Taran had reentered the estate fresh from an exercise, "I remember!"

"Remember what?" Riku asked, unsure if the boy knew anything about the Xehanort he was thinking about.

"One night I was at Master Yen Sid's tower." Taran explained to the group as they listened carefully, "I overheard him and my master discuss something about Xehanort. It had to do with someone named Terra and darkness. From what I gathered...Xehanort...the one you knew...used Terra's darkness to possess and overtake his body."

"And then I-" Aqua hesitated for a moment, but continued, "I let him live...I allowed him back into the Garden-"

"Where everything he did was done to make everyone else's life a living hell." Thaeon finished with a palm over his face, "Oh and good job with the memory lock on his keyblade...he apparently found a way around it!" He said, slamming his fist into a table. Riku was just hoping that the table wasn't cracked.

"Enough Tobias!" Ansem shouted, slamming his palm onto the same table, "There are none who can foresee every consequence of their actions. But Aqua acted for the sake of a friend...possesed or not."

"Still remains that if she hadn't done it-"

"Would you have not done the same for Carrie or Myde?" Riku noted how Thaeon's form shook even more, the mentioned names were tied to the pain of his past. Based on Ansem's own mannerisms, it appeared that he himself did not realize why he had said the names, but Thaeon's glare softened into an regretful visage. Riku even thought he saw the glint of a tear but the young man's face didn't seem like it would allow for that.

"I apologize, Aqua." Aqua still stared at her own feet, but she nodded, Riku sensed no ill will from her as Thaeon turned to Ansem, "You remember?"

"I acted on an echo...my memories are no longer being destroyed but..." Ansem soothed his brow trying to recall something more from his close yet distant past. "My elder mind is unable to recover as quickly as Sora had."

"Sound's like that amnesia won't last long, Ansem." Riku noted, remembering when he had lost his memory of Sora when he worked for Ansem, "Whatever's the case, we've gotta get to Yen Sid."

"That's Master Yen Sid! Though Riku is correct." Taran said, "My Star Shard allows they who hold it to travel through the lanes between without succumbing to the darkness within them."

"I've seen it used before. Will it fit more than one person?" Aqua could vaguely remember a small friend using the shard to transport her and...Ventus to a mysterious tower.

"So long as I remember where I'm going. And a true warrior never forgets." Taran confidently boasted and then stopped, "Which way was the beach?" Riku wasn't surprised somehow and was about to answer when he smelt a strong source of nervous fearful tension leave while another increased.

"Where's Kairi?" Riku's eyebrow raised at Sora's inquiry when he looked over to where Kairi should have been sitting, only to see that she was gone. "Something's wrong with her..."

"She didn't tell you..." Sora turned and looked at Aqua while she finished, "She had a nightmare...about Xehanort."

"What-" Sora's eyes looked like they widened with realization, causing him to dash out of the front door of the estate before anyone could stop or notice what he was doing.

"Sir Sora!" Taran turned to follow Sora but Riku tugged the back of his tunic and caused the boy to fall on his butt.

"Give him a headstart...it'll be good for her." Riku said to Taran while he got up with Riku's and Gurgi's help, "Why is Kairi having a nightmare about Xehanort?"

"Maybe Xehanort did something to her when she was a kid." Aqua suggested, feeling slightly more guilty as the thought came to mind, "That might be why she left her world and came to this island."

"But she doesn't remember anything about it." Riku brought up, remembering and slightly regretting when he used to egg her on questions about other worlds which would cause her to cry for some reason. After that, he stopped directly asking her and waited until her memory returned to her naturally.

"Precisely, a memory may resurface in a number of ways." Ansem stated, "An object, a word, a phrase, even a dream..."

"In that case, let's make sure she doesn't hurt herself." Thaeon suggested, "If Sora can't do it." Thaeon ran out first followed by Taran and Aqua, but Riku stopped when he saw that Ansem wasn't following.

"Forgive me...it seems that I've yet to recover as you and Aqua have." Ansem confessed as he wearingly set himself in a chair, "You go on ahead, I just...need to recover my strength." Riku mentally punched himself in the head for overlooking that Ansem was still an old man and therefore shouldn't be pushed as hard.

"Pazu...stay with him." Riku told the young boy, "If anything happens, go the mayor's house and say your Kairi's friend."

"You can count on me boss." Pazu gave a thumbs up while Riku ran off to follow after the others, confident that Pazu would look after Ansem well.

* * *

**Paradise beyond Oblivion**

She was on an island. She had been here before, but could not remember when or why. The sound of the waves soothed her ears with the melody of the ocean. She took off the hood of her cloak, fully allowing her eyes to take in the sight of the wide ocean that she had appeared in. She didn't know how she got there, but it did not matter, it felt like home. She carefully walked over to the shore and picked up a small sea shell that had been washed ashore. It was a very small shell and the girl didn't know why she was fascinated by it, but she studied it in her fingers as though it mesmirized her.

That was when her assailant appeared, an orb of destruction in his hand. The last thing she saw was the orb flashing out towards her before all faded to black.

* * *

_**Main Island, Main Beach** _

Sora fortunately didn't have to search to hard to find where Kairi had gone. Her footprints could be seen in the sand, plus, he could see her sitting by the shore. Seeing that she hadn't somehow gone where he couldn't follow, he slowly approached her, being careful not to scare her into thinking he was some sort of stalker.

"I'm sorry..." Kairi said when Sora sat down next to her. Sora saw that her knees were hugged into her chest, bringing his doubts down to less than three percent.

"What for?" This wasn't like Kairi, why she apologize for running outside? This all but settled the one percent of his mind that said that he was overreacting, "Let's just head back and-"

"I'm burdening you." Kairi said, turning back towards the sea, "It's what I do to everyone I've met...everyone I know."

"Alright...tell me what's wrong and please...tell me the truth." Sora placed his hands on Kairi's shoulders and could feel a nervous twitch in his foot as his blue eyes stared into hers, "And no...you're my friend...friends always lean on each other's shoulder...I know I've leaned on yours...remember?"

"I heard...him." She said in a suddenly smaller voice.

"Who?" Sora nearly demanded as he just watched Kairi struggle with words...something that he had known she rarely did.

"Xe..." Sora already had an idea as to who had been haunting Kairi's dreams, but waited for her to finish, "Xehanort..."

"Why can't he leave us alone..." Sora thought as Kairi's breathing looked like it was becoming heavier.

"I've had nightmares about him for the past three months...they're all horrible." Kairi admitted, "And they feel so real...I want so badly to wake up but...it feels like he isn't letting me."

"Kairi..."

"I know he's gone...but he did something to me." Somewhere in his heart, a beast called for Xehanort's blood, "I can't remember but...I can still feel his hand on my heart." A thousand more beasts joined the first as Sora studied the increasing fear on his friend's face, "He whispers to me...he tells me that I'm just some doll to be used...that everyone who tries to protect me will die...and I've seen him do it and couldn't do anything to stop him!"

"What you feel right now...there's nothing to be ashamed of." Sora said while Kairi calmed down, "Nobody can do anything by themselves...not even me or Riku. You've helped us plenty of times and even today...you helped save our world and saved all of our friends and family from darkness." Kairi's face told that she disagreed with Sora's claims but he kept going, "Dreams just tell us what we're really afraid of. But I can't say it enough Kairi...there's nothing bad about having friends...in fact, that's the only reason why me and Riku seem so strong." He thought back and knew for certain that he couldn't have gone anywhere without any of the friends he met. From Leon all the way to Tron, he couldn't have done anything with their help, "And there's one friend whose always given me so much strength...even when it's too dark to see where I'm walking.

"Me?" To this day, Sora still remembered when he was a heartless. Plunged into darkness without a way to return, until he heard a voice that called him back to the light, Kairi's voice. "You mean it?" Sora nodded with a simple but genuine smile which she followed as she she lightly kissed the boy on his check and embraced him. Sora was understandly caught off guard by Kairi's action, but he nontheless returned her hug.

"That kid makes it look too easy." Riku stated with a smirk while he and the others looked at the couple from a short distance.

"How was he able to calm her so well?" a perplexed Taran asked to Thaeon's apparent mild annoyance.

"You'll find out someday child." Aqua said while Gurgi mumbled something about a babble-girl which caused Taran to start trying to grab him.

"It starts with L and ends with E." Thaeon innocently said to Riku's amusement and Taran's further confusion while Sora led Kairi towards the others.

"Sorry to worry everyone." Kairi said, but was relieved when everyone dismissed such a claim.

"Riku?" Sora saw that sharpened look on Riku's face, the same one he gave whenever the heartless appeared and the meteor shower rained through the night sky.

"Something's wrong." Riku stated while everyone else started to pick up a similar vibe. Aqua's smile dissappeered, Thaeon shuffled into what was likely a combat stance, Taran grew nervous as Gurgi tried to ask what was wrong and Kairi started to frantically look around. Sora picked up on these reactions and immediately drew his Kingdom Key.

"Heartless?" Sora asked while the other keyblade wielders followed suit and felt the sense of uncoming dread mist around them.

"No...smells worse." Suddenly, they heard a frantic scream and turned back towards the beach to see a black haired girl in a black cloak get tossed onto the sand. As they started running to this downed person, they noticed a similarly cloaked figure phase into existance above the black haired girl and looked from the approaching group to the cloaked girl lying in the sand before it.

"Leave her alone!" Kairi yelled as she dived after this hooded stalker. When she swung  **Destiny's Embrace**  however, it seemed as though she had phased through the figure and nearly fell forward. She turned around and saw the figure reappear just in front of the shore as the others came to her side with their keyblades ready.

"No way! We already took care of them!" Sora yelled as the figure brandished a pair of ethereal blades of cold energy that he held with black hilts emitting electricity. Aqua's eyes went wide as if a tormenting memory had just crashed into her thoughts.

"Ah oh! Trouble! Good bye!" So focused was everyone on this figure's appearance and threat that they didn't even notice Gurgi start to run back to the estate. Even if they had, they might not have blamed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:
> 
> Fifty bucks on the mysterious figure!
> 
> As you'll already notice, I'm crossing further into dark territory as of this chapter but I'm sure you'll all sleep well.
> 
> What?

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Notes:
> 
> Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Thrones of the Four Pillars.
> 
> I'd originally started this fic nearly two years ago in December. At the time, it was just a random one shot that I'd made called, "Xehanort's Victory". A story where Xehanort aizen-pwns all of the heroes and had a very Dark M-rated feel to it.
> 
> But, while it was initially the opening chapter for the story and was set in place as a "Foregone Conclusion" type story, I eventually scrapped it and wrote an appropriate first chapter much like you've just gotten done reading.
> 
> The story is an alternate continuity of the KH series after KH2, going down a darker path...basically something akin to a Final Fantasy game that barely got a T-rating despite it's depressing/scary content, violence and other stuff that would haunt even mature gamers.
> 
> You know the one.
> 
> So, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the story so far.


End file.
